Murder

by Sandra R Neeley

  The chair across from his scraped the floor as Aubreigne pulled it out and sat down. “If she wasn’t your mate, why did you go retrieve her from Hell?”

  Murder shook his head. “I thought she was. I looked into her midnight-blue eyes, and I felt the calmness her presence soothed my soul with, and I thought she was mine. Then yesterday, when we were leaving to come back here and make sure you were safe, something was off, something was different, but I wasn’t sure what it was. When I got home, I realized what it was. Her eyes were brown, not blue, though she claimed her eyes were always brown. And the sky around my home isn’t blue anymore — the haze is gone. It was her, Aubreigne. She’s been protecting my home and me for a while now. But the blue haze is gone, Phrygia’s blue eyes are gone, and Lucitari is gone.”

  Chapter 19

  Aubreigne had never in all the years she’d known the big gargoyle seen him unsure of his next step, or regretful of any decision he’d made. He was strong, steadfast and self-assured — until today. She reached out a hand and covered Murder’s hand with her own. “Tell me. Tell me all of it. How did Phrygia’s eyes take on the color of Lucitari’s eyes? How did you become so mixed up that you believed the wrong female was yours?”

  So he did. He told her everything. He told her of how Phrygia had tended his wounds in Hell. Of how he’d become attached to her. He told her of how Phrygia was condemned to Hell as punishment for her affair with Lore. He told of how Lucitari made a split second decision to send a piece of herself with Phrygia out of pity for the girl, and to protect her when Acaelo cast her into Hell.

  Aubreigne listened without interrupting until he stopped speaking. “Why would she send her soul with Phrygia? Wouldn’t that mean that she’d never be able to bond with her mate when she met him?”

  Murder laughed bitterly. “Terrus said she always believed that having a mate was a weakness that could be used against her. So, I suppose saving an innocent and protecting herself from bonding at the same time was an easy decision for her. Besides, it was ages ago, literally ages. And she never thought she’d have a mate.”

  They sat for a while, neither saying anything. Then finally, Murder spoke. “If I’d known Lucitari was mine, I’d have never gone back to Hell — I’d have left Phrygia there, the Dark One would never have followed us back, and Lucitari wouldn’t be missing now.”

  “That’s not true, Murder,” Aubreigne said. “You are not that male. You are Murder. And Murder is, above all else, honorable. Even if you’d known Lucitari was yours, you’d not have been able to forget the female who tried to ease your pain in Hell. You’d have gone back for her.”

  Murder sat there for a moment, thinking on her words. Finally he nodded his head one single time. “Yes, I would have gone back for her anyway.”

  “Okay. Then stop beating yourself up. No matter the order of things, they still would have happened. We need only find Phrygia, help her get situated elsewhere and started on her new life, so that you can move on with Lucitari.”

  Murder nodded. Then he realized something — she’d not been surprised that Phrygia wasn't his mate, only asked him what made him aware that she wasn't. “How long have you known that Phrygia wasn’t my mate?”

  “Just as you said, since you could hear me when I called to you.”

  Murder shook his head. “I didn’t even consider there may have been a reason for it.” He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Where do I start?” Murder asked.

  “Where is Lucitari?” Aubreigne answered his question with a question of her own.

  “No one knows. Except Lily, and she said she won’t call to her Aunt Luci for me because I hurt her and that’s what made her go away.”

  “She’s a child, Murder. She sees things in black and white. You can’t let that bother you, she doesn’t see the fragile emotions in play here.”

  “She’s Lily, she sees more than you think she does,” Murder answered.

  “Where’s Phrygia?” Aubreigne asked, giving up on the Lucitari path for now.

  “With the Dark One!” Murder said, raising his voice.

  “She’s not!” Aubreigne insisted.

  “Why do you defend him?” Murder demanded, watching her suspiciously.

  “Because he doesn’t want her!” Aubreigne said defensively.

  “How do you know that?” Murder pressed.

  “Because he wants me!” Aubreigne shouted at him.

  “Aubreigne, don’t you know who he is?”

  “No. And neither do you. I know who he’s been of late, but not who he was before, not who he wants to be now.”

  “You can’t possibly…”

  “No, I can’t. But still, there is much to consider.”

  “Has he been here? Have you seen him?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Aubreigne went to the kitchen cabinet and brought back a stack of papers. She held them to her chest and looked at Murder, begging him with her eyes to not condemn her for even holding the papers dear. She laid them out on the table before him, and waited as he sifted through them. She watched as he lifted first one, then another, and looked at them closely before setting them aside and moving on to the next.

  There was a sketch of Aubreigne being held in a male’s arms, his back was seen in the sketch, and her face was clearly seen over the male’s shoulder, looking up at his unseen face with love in her eyes. Another was a male, a female, and a little girl playing in a meadow. The next was a male, standing with his arms raised to the heavens, his face to the sun, a look of rapture on his face. The last was the Dark One, a self-portrait, looking out at whomever held the sketch, his expression soft, expecting nothing, almost as though he was waiting, asking the recipient of the sketches to forgive him.

  “They were all waiting here on the table this morning,” Aubreigne said.

  “What will you do?” Murder asked.

  “Help you find Phrygia,” she answered, walking past him and out of the front door.

  Murder got up and followed her outside. “Aubreigne, don’t do anything you can’t undo.”

  She shook her head and walked further toward the back of her home. She stopped just past her clothes line and lifted her voice in song — her siren’s song. Several males stepped out of the wooded tree line, unable to resist her song, but the Dark One did not.

  Aubreigne sang, and sang, and sang. Eventually, the winds her voice caused to stir came to a standstill, and before her stood the male himself, the Dark One, in answer to her call.

  He tilted his head first left, then right. “Why do you call for me, Siren?” he asked, his voice silky smooth. “Have you decided you can wait no more? You need me now, don’t you?” he asked, sweeping his tongue across his lips lasciviously and smoothing a hand down his trousers to rub the obvious outline of his swollen cock.

  Aubreigne shook her head, and dropped her voice to the whisper she used to mask her voice around most males. “No, I have not decided I can wait no more.”

  The Dark One hissed, hunching his shoulders, clear evidence that her siren’s voice had an effect on him even when she whispered.

  “What do you want?” he demanded, angry because she, this little wisp of a female, had power over him.

  “What do you want?” she countered. “You penetrate my home while I sleep, you leave seductive drawings meant to tug at my heartstrings. What is it exactly, that you want?”

  “I do no such thing!” he snapped. “Only a fool allows a female to have power over him. The only thing I’d penetrate is your body. There,” he said, licking his lips, “the soft flesh between your legs. Let me in, siren,” the Dark One demanded, thrusting his hips in her direction, “I will bruise it so sweetly.”

  The only way anyone would have noticed the subtle flinch Aubreigne gave at the Dark One’s words was if they’d known her most of their lives, as Murder had. He saw it.

  Aubreigne steeled herself and ignored his insulting words. “Never. Instead, you will
tell me where the female Phrygia is. And you will tell me now,” Aubreigne demanded.

  The Dark One laughed, the deep, rich sound of his laughter carrying over the land in all directions.

  Aubreigne began to sing again, but this time a different song. This song, the same song all sirens sang since the beginning of time to lure sailors to their death. To lure all men to bend to their will and gladly give up their souls for a glimpse of the siren herself.

  The Dark One resisted, his face contorted, his neck and shoulder muscles bulging with the strain of trying to resist Aubreigne.

  “Cease! Cease this instant,” he snarled.

  Aubreigne continued to sing, louder, stronger.

  “Cease!” he bellowed, falling to his knees. The Dark One slammed his hands over his ears, screaming his rage at Aubreigne manipulating him.

  Finally, unable to take it anymore, he gave her what she wanted. “I know not!” he shouted so loud that everything in Whispers stopped moving, stopped chirping, stopped breathing, for just a split second.

  Aubreigne gradually stopped her song, watching him all the while. This was the face of the male in the sketches inside her home, but this was not the same male who’d drawn them. She didn’t know what was happening, she didn’t understand, and wasn't sure she wanted to understand. But she’d done what Murder needed; she’d gotten an answer from the Dark One. He didn’t have Phrygia.

  The Dark One continued to writhe on the ground, ridding himself of the magic she’d filled him with. Finally he got to his knees, then shakily to his feet. “I will make you pay!” he snarled. “No one brings Baal Zebub to heel. No One!” he bellowed, taking a threatening step toward Aubreigne.

  Murder stepped up beside Aubreigne, providing a united front.

  “You think me afraid of you, gargoyle? Not at all.” He looked at Murder, his expression a hatred dripping sneer. “I’ve had what’s yours. Had her every night in ways no soul can ever forget. I’m imprinted on her, inside her, everywhere. She’ll never be free of me. And still you search. What a pitiful excuse for a male.” The Dark One took a step toward Murder, and Murder toward him with a growl in his throat. But Aubreigne opened her mouth and began her siren’s song once more.

  The Dark One snarled, flashed a confused, pained look at Aubreigne, then vanished before their eyes.

  Aubreigne stopped singing and stood there, watching the place the Dark One had previously stood. She couldn’t explain her heartache. He was not the male she’d made herself believe he was. He was not the male the sketches he left of himself and her, and even Deaumanique, seemed to indicate he was. And she felt a fool for having believed otherwise.

  “Aubreigne,” Murder said softly, reaching for her.

  Aubreigne stepped away, holding her arms around herself. “You have your answer. He doesn't have her.”

  “Are you…” Murder started to say, trying to make sure she was okay, but she interrupted him.

  “You should start your search elsewhere,” Aubreigne said. “Perhaps Lore can take you to Lucitari. I’ve done all I can.”

  “Can I do anything to ease your pain?” Murder asked, knowing his friend was hurting.

  “No. There is nothing to be done. I’m fine. Go find your women, Murder. You have much to unravel.”

  “But…” he started.

  “Go!” Aubreigne shouted, holding herself strong when she turned around and faced Murder. “I’m fine. Go. They need you. We are fine here.”

  Murder paused only a moment more before nodding his head and taking to the sky. He knew that Aubreigne would call for him if she needed him, and for now, he needed to find Phrygia and Lore, so that Lore could take him to Lucitari.

  Aubreigne waited until she was back inside her home to let her tears fall. She’d waited all her life to find her one, her mate, and then to find him and to have him be the Dark One... At one moment so gentle and loving, even sketching her pictures of what she believed were his dreams, his wants. And then to be so vicious and hurtful the next, dripping with rage and hate for all, even her. She was confused, she was hurt and she was right to make a life here away from all males. Never! Never would she ever mate.

  Aubreigne jumped to her feet and snatched the drawings off the table. She tore them into little pieces and threw them into the pail in the corner of the kitchen she threw kitchen scraps in. She wanted no part of his worthless drawings. She was done. No more. Not ever. Not for anyone.

  She stared down into the pail at the torn drawings and breathed deeply as she took her emotions under control. She heard another knock at her door and didn’t even startle. She’d been expecting it. The Dark One had roared loud enough that all of Whispers no doubt heard it.

  Aubreigne walked over to the door knowing who it was before she ever opened it. She pasted a smile to her face and reached for the doorknob. “Hello, Enthrall. How are you today?” she asked.

  Enthrall looked over her shoulder into the small cottage behind her. “Are you alright, Aubreigne? Is everything okay?”

  “I am. Everything is fine.” She stepped back widening the door. “Come in. You’re welcome to see for yourselves.” Aubreigne stood aside as Enthrall, flanked by Destroy entered her home.

  “Hello, Destroy,” Aubreigne said softly.

  “Hello, Aubreigne. Sorry for the intrusion,” Destroy said, flanking Enthrall and peeking into each room of her small cottage.

  “No intrusion at all. I’m glad of the response. Lets me know you’ll come if I ever need.”

  “Always,” Enthrall promised from the other side of the room. Satisfied that the Dark One was not inside her home, Enthrall relaxed a little and walked back over to Aubreigne. “We searched outside before knocking on your door. He is not hiding anywhere near.”

  Aubreigne nodded. “I know.”

  “But he is here, often, is he not?” Enthrall asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t personally see him, but he seems to be here, or the feeling of him seems to be. At the very least everyone else seems to think he should be here, or I should know where he is,” Aubreigne said with a bit of tone in her voice.

  “And why is that?” Enthrall asked.

  Aubreigne shook her head, but looked away and said nothing.

  “I can’t protect you if I don’t understand. Tell me,” Enthrall entreated.

  “Alright. Sit down. I’ll tell you.”

  A short time later, after Aubreigne told Enthrall all there was to know about the drawings she’d received, the Dark One seeming to be fascinated with her one moment and hating her the next, and the darker — more wild creatures of Whispers coming to her to beg her to mate and control the Dark One, Enthrall and Destroy finally left her cottage.

  Aubreigne stood at the door, seeing them off.

  “I’m going to be checking in on you several times a day and night, Aubreigne. If you need anything, or if you become afraid, come to me, or at the very least make him roar again. I’ll come right away,” Enthrall said.

  “I will be fine,” Aubreigne said, brushing off his concern.

  Enthrall just watched her as Destroy hugged her briefly. “I’ll be ready if you need me at any time, Aubreigne. Just let me know,” Destroy promised.

  “I know, Destroy. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Oh, and thank you for the crystals. Rowan has hung them in the windows of the baby’s room. They reflect like rainbows across the walls, and she says they’ll keep his room safe and secure while flooding the space with positive energy.”

  “She’s right. I am very happy you both like the gift.”

  “Very much,” Destroy confirmed.

  “We’ll be on our way, Aubreigne. But we’ll be keeping a close eye out around your home,” Enthrall said.

  “Thank you, Enthrall. Please give my regards to your family.”

  “I will. Be safe, Aubreigne.”

  As they walked away Destroy couldn’t help but ask. “You’re going to assign males to watch her home, aren’t you?”

  “Y
ou know I am,” Enthrall answered.

  Chapter 20

  Murder stepped inside his home, calling for Phrygia, knowing before he did that she’d still not be there. After watching Aubreigne force the Dark One to answer her questions, he had no doubt that the Dark One did not have Phrygia. So, now, he was hoping that she’d just wandered away for a walk and not heard his call earlier. But, no, she’d still not returned. His emotions were all over the place. He couldn’t find Phrygia, and Lucitari was missing. They were both females he was responsible for in one way or another and he couldn’t find either of them. Then there was Aubreigne. He’d seen the disappointment and the pain Aubreigne had felt when the Dark One had spoken to her, demanding sex as though that was all she was worth. He’d wanted to stay and comfort her, but she’d insisted he go — she didn’t want anyone to see her vulnerabilities — she never did. So he left. Aubreigne had always been stronger than most females, emotionally especially. He had no doubt that she’d persevere, but he still felt that he could have eased her pain just a little.

  He walked through his home fighting the urge to break everything, opening doors and looking for Phrygia despite the fact he knew the home was empty, this time moving slowly to look for any evidence or clue that may tell him where to look for Phrygia. As he did, his mind returned to Lucitari. Wherever she was, she’d clearly chosen not to make her connection to him known. And what to make of that? Did she not want him? Did she think him not worthy because he was only a gargoyle? Or was she truly as Terrus had said, happy for him and wished him well with Phrygia because he’d chosen Phrygia over her. At that thought he huffed out a laugh — she’d been angry that he was with Phrygia — there was no happiness there. Why then, did she hide herself from him all these years, and even after she’d been exposed?