Dorien stormed across the room. Philip felt the grip of iron gouge into the flesh of his back. This time Dorien turned him around, his muscled arm was pulled back to launch another clenched missile. Philip felt every wrathful second of the glare that promised to destroy him. Familiarity finally breached the walls of Spartan anger.
Pained recognition flooded Dorien’s eyes, forcing the coldest emerald stare to soften. The expression on his flawless, sculpted face cast bewilderment. Disbelief dropped his jaw. Philip heard immortal lungs suck in an unnecessary mortal breath. Dorien’s grip released in an instant. Philip fell to the floor in a solid thud. He grunted in pain. A white plume of powdered drywall dust gusted from the floor and swirled high into the air.
Dorien crouched and stared at Philip as if he were staring into the visage of a ghost. “Brother?”
“Yes, old friend, it is I.” Philip braced himself for the rest of the reunion.
Dorien shook his head. Philip knew he was testing his wits.
“You are alive? But…how?” Dorien’s muscled arm flexed to pull Philip off the floor. He embraced Philip heartily.
Philip returned the greeting and patted his old friend on the shoulder. He coughed to inhale the molecules of drywall dust flying off his shirt. “I am afraid my presence here is intentional, Dorien. My visit was not for honor nor was it based on good intentions. If you will listen to my story, I am confident you will find the truth in what I have to say.”
Philip winced. The sudden tic in Dorien’s cheek was hard enough to break a man’s jaw. It was too late. Dorien had already searched his mind. The Spartan was well aware of what had transpired between Philip and his beloved Evangeline.
Dorien roared. “You would force yourself on a woman? On my woman? I thought I knew you better than that!” The expression on his face was wounded. Furrows reached his raven brows. His lip curled in disgust. Pain ravaged his vivid green glare.
“You are angry, brother, and have every right to be! I did not take your woman! Read my thoughts and you will find I could never hurt a woman in that way. For whatever stupid reason, I thought I could commit this act to free myself of Demona. But my heart knew better. What you see here is a horrible accident. Evan, as you call her, she tried to flee from me. An action I cannot blame her for. She was terrified, and so she ran and slipped at the top of the stairs. I was able to soften the impact of her fall. Evangeline is still hurt nonetheless. I accept full responsibility for what has happened here.”
“Dorien! Evan’s bleeding! Come quick!” Tommy yelled from across the living room.
In a blurred rush, Dorien and Philip ran to Evangeline’s side. Dorien growled. His glare spat venom at Philip. The blanket covering her naked body only made matters worse. Philip reminded Dorien telepathically; he would give a full account if Dorien would only give him the chance. The Spartan’s poison failed to dissipate. He threw Philip a look that promised adequate suffering and death. Evangeline moaned in pain. Everyone’s attention jerked towards her.
“Evan, love, I am here. Where do you hurt?” Dorien held her bloodied hand and tried to lift the blanket. “You are bleeding! Let me see where you are cut.”
Evangeline pushed his hands away. “I’m not cut, Dorien.” she whimpered with tear-filled eyes.
“I don’t understand! Then where is the blood coming from? Don’t be shy! Show me where you are hurt.”
Philip glanced at Tommy. The boy returned his stare. Understanding hit them in unison. Reading the kid’s thoughts, they both knew where the blood was stemming from.
“You can’t see where I’m hurt Dorien, because the blood is coming from inside my body.”
* * * *
“What do you mean inside?” Dorien flooded into her mind and tried to comprehend her meaning. Evangeline wasn’t making any sense! It only took him an instant and he knew. She had tried so hard with plotted deception to keep him from knowing. It was her dirty little secret.
“A baby!” Dorien whispered. You are pregnant?” His eyes flew open wide with the full impact of understanding. “My…children? Twins! I’m already going to be a father?” Thoughts of Demona’s words now made his head swim in a bowl of confusion. He had been duped by both of them.
“Yes!” Evangeline cried.
He felt the release of her relief. She was glad he finally knew the truth.
“I’m bleeding from the fall! The babies! I just don’t know…” she began to weep. “I think the babies are dead. I can’t feel them move anymore.”
Dorien roared in rage. The woman who claimed to love him had played him for a fool! He had planted his seeds deep inside her body and she didn’t bother to tell him? Hearing as if someone suddenly turned up the volume, the soft thudded heartbeats of his children pranced into his ears. His teeth clenched tight in misery. How had he been so trusting? “Your heart! It wasn’t your erratic beat I have heard all of this time! It was all three of your hearts!”
“I’m so sorry, Dorien! Please forgive me!” she cried. Her crimson stained fingers reached for him.
Dorien jerked away from her. He refused to let her touch him. His voice sounded as hard and cold as he meant it to. “Tell me, woman! Why would you choose not to tell me about our children? Did you plan to kill them?”
“N-n-no! I would never do that!”
“You lied! You betrayed me!”
Her voice was filled with desperation. “Please, listen. I would never betray you. I love you.”
“Love me enough to lie? Didn’t I mean anything to you?”
“I’m so sorry…please! Search my mind and my heart. I didn’t know how you would react. I was scared…and thought you would be angry. I-I was afraid you would leave.”
“You thought I would desert you and our babes?” Dorien couldn’t believe it! Had she no faith in him?
Evangeline sobbed. Her cries spoke volumes of the extent of her misery. But the pain of her lies was overwhelming. He felt so much pain that he almost felt nothing at all.
“Please, Dorien. Find the truth you seek!”
Dorien clenched his fists. His glare narrowed into slits of rage. He lowered his head in concentration. “Stay still!”
* * * *
Evangeline closed her eyes. The pain behind Dorien’s angry emerald stare tore her heart to shreds. She felt as if she were gazing upon the face of a stranger. White pain burned and throbbed, scorching the inside of her skull. This was something she never felt when he searched her thoughts before. It was a struggle to stay conscious. Her head pulsed and swam. Would she lose her sanity? “Please, Dorien, stop. You’re…hurting me.”
He was angry. She refused to believe he was aware of the physical pain he was causing her. But she would accept any punishment he felt fair in return. Evangeline would gladly pay his price. All she wanted was for him to know the truth. Surely he would find that she loved him and their children above all things, even above her own life. “I love you, Dorien.” she whispered. Darkness hovered and surrounded her. She felt the panicked, swooshed rush of falling. Slipping into a hole of non-existence, she lost consciousness.
* * * *
Dorien ravaged Evangeline’s mind for answers. He recalled the day she and Taryn were in the bathroom with all of the pregnancy tests. A lie! They belonged to Evan, not Taryn. The visit to Eliza wasn’t for Taryn, but to confirm his children growing inside the woman he loved. Lies! Morning sickness was not caused by a virus, but a healthy normal pregnancy. This was the real reason for her rampant appetite and the exhaustion and fatigue. And then there was the fluttering he had felt in her womb as he held her and loved her. Nothing but lies!
He tore through every crevice of Evangeline’s tight-woven web of deception. Dorien was like a fly trapped, lying in wait to be devoured. She struck fast and emptied him of his life blood. Her betrayal stung and destroyed him, liquefying his insides like the caustic acid of an arachnid’s venom. The power of her love came at a price. It was strong enough to kill him.
* * * *
&nbs
p; Philip felt as horrified as Tommy did. They stood and watched Evangeline thrash in pain. Dorien’s wrath assaulted her every thought and memory. Philip read his old friend like an open book. His pain made him oblivious to the devastation he was causing her. Dorien was relentless in his search. He fought for every ounce of truth. Like the justice he always stood for, the smarting Spartan wanted all of it.
They tried in vain to distract Dorien. But he was as immoveable as a mountain. He wasn’t aware Evangeline had slipped into convulsions. The copper color of her eyes rolled back into the depths of her sockets. Violent shakes thrashed her body. She gurgled with her mouth gaped wide open. It sounded as if she was choking. Her mortal lungs fought for every elusive breath. Philip had witnessed enough! No longer could he watch Dorien assault the woman he claimed to love. In his pain and anger, his friend had lost control.
Tommy shook Philip’s muscled arm. Tears spilled from the boy’s pleading, horrified gaze. “Please! Do something before he kills her!”
Evangeline’s writhing body jerked to a still. Philip tackled Dorien and rolled with him across the floor. He felt the precise moment Dorien pulled out of Evangeline’s mind. The Spartan landed in a crouched position, ready to fight. Jewel green eyes looked wild and possessed. The warrior was locked in full battle mode.
“Enough, Dorien! This is insanity. Look at Evangeline!” Philip thundered. “Your anger is destroying the woman you love!”
Dorien growled in the back of his throat. His angry glare sought to punish any who gazed upon him. “You forget your places!”
Tommy stepped forward. The boy wasn’t swayed. There wasn’t an ounce of fear in his chivalrous spirit. “You don’t scare me, Dorien! Immortal or not, I’m loyal to you. But not if it means standing idle while you hurt Evan! She’s a good woman who loves you. Whatever her reasons, she wanted to wait to tell you about her pregnancy! I’m sure her reasons are bloody good ones. Just look at your shameful behavior! It’s no wonder she would ever want to tell you.
“You profess to love Evangeline, yet you refuse to listen to anything she has to say. She’s never given you any reason not to trust her. In case you’ve forgotten, that girl has lost an awful lot…everything if you ask me. Can you blame her for being afraid to lose you, too? I don’t know how things worked in your time, Dorien. But here in ours, men leave! They fill a woman with their children, use her up, and then leave when they find a younger model or can’t handle it anymore.
“If you ever want to see a good example, go to my house and look into the weary eyes of my Mum. She has tried to raise six of us on her own since the bloke who calls himself my father took off! If you can’t trust Evangeline, then you sure as heck don’t deserve her! You’re a big, stubborn jerk!” Tommy’s voice broke. The quiver in his lip gave his heart away.
“So what’s it going to be Dorien? What’s it going to be? You make this right or you’ll lose Evan! But I promise you now…if you lose her, then you’ll lose me, too! This is rubbish and you bloody well know it!” Tommy’s chest heaved from exertion. His flushed face matched the red of his hair. Tears flooded down his freckled cheeks.
Philip swallowed hard. It was obvious Tommy respected Dorien like a father. The boy refused to allow him to do to Evan what his own sire had done to his mother. Without a doubt, Dorien was worthy. But the lad was right. Evangeline was the kind of woman who deserved a man’s best.
Tommy shrugged his shoulders. His head fell limp towards his pale chest. “Okay, Dorien, you can kill me now if you like.”
The boy no longer cared!
The kid was willing to die for the right cause!
Philip read Dorien’s thoughts. They raced faster than the strikes from Zeus’ rod of lightning. He waited for his friend’s reaction. Dorien had always been a fair and reasonable man. But Philip would protect the boy, if necessary. The Spartan knew Tommy was right! No one could argue the lad’s position. All signs of madness receded from Dorien’s eyes. Blaring sirens approached and fell silent. Emergency vehicles pulled up to the house.
Chapter Three
All anger whooshed from Dorien’s body in a rapid white flash. The clarity of his wits returned and sobered him in an instant. Feeling unsteady, he felt the toll of rolling aftershocks. Wave after wave, a roiling sea of conviction drowned him. His pride had been kicked by a nineteen year old kid! The truth of it stung. He had lost control. How had he allowed himself to become so angry?
Kneeling beside Evangeline, the flex of Dorien’s muscled arms pulled her fragile body against him. He stroked the tendrils of her hair and cradled her close. Limp and pale, she was unresponsive. A choke of misery escaped him as he tried to wake her. But the woman he loved wouldn’t stir. “Evan, please come back to me. I am so sorry, love. Forgive me. Wake up and yell at me! Slap me! Just please come back.”
Emergency medics entered through the splintered wooden door. The snaps of broken timber echoed from beneath their booted feet. The scan of their gazes acknowledged the damaged walls and heaps of rubble. Debris littered the expanse of living room. Dorien knew what they were thinking. Their thoughts branded him a classic woman beater.
Philip winked at Dorien. His typical mischievous gleam shimmered in his glowing icy blue stare. Just like old times, his amusing friend was timely. He was always there to provide loyal reinforcement. “She’s remodeling. Wretched bloody contractors! You can’t find good help these days.” he offered in his best refined English. Philip’s accent was perfect.
The medics grumbled and nodded in obvious agreement. Their suspicions sated, they disregarded the topic in unison. Zippers glided on their tracks. Bags of medical supplies were thrust open. They crouched and evaluated Evangeline. Tommy informed the medics of her pregnancy and of her fall down the stairs. It was agony for Dorien to watch Evangeline be snatched from the security of his arms.
The gritted sound of powdered drywall dust embedded beneath Dorien’s shoes. It followed him as he paced the floor. Slammed by the sense of being watched, he was quick to catch Tommy’s angry glare. The boy’s vortex of troubled thoughts made Dorien physically wince. He was well aware of Tommy’s dilemma; he had intentionally omitted the mental scourging Evangeline had suffered by Dorien’s own folly.
“She’s pregnant and bleeding!” Dorien reminded them. He felt helpless and impotent watching the medics insert a large needle into Evangeline’s vein. His attention was held hostage by the large drop of dark crimson blood rolling down the inside crease of her arm. To be reminded of her precious mortality pierced him. It was almost more than he could handle. Monitors and devices were adhered to almost every part of her body.
“I’m sorry fellows, but can you please turn and give the little Miss some privacy? We must examine our patient.” a medic demanded.
Philip and Tommy turned their backs simultaneously. Philip’s arm brushed brisk against Tommy’s shoulder. Tommy scrunched up his face and rubbed his throbbing appendage in pain. They listened and waited for the medic to complete the exam.
“Bag of waters still intact. Cervix is tight and shut.” The medic reported to his shaggy-haired partner in brisk medical jargon.
Tommy’s brows furrowed. His freckled hands raised in obvious frustration. “English terminology, please!”
The medic nodded. “Her pregnancy appears to be all right. There’s no immediate sign of her going into labor. The fetuses are stable.”
The sounds of released breaths in unison gave away their relief. Philip patted Dorien on the back.
“However, we have no idea why she isn’t responding to us. She must be transported to the hospital. They will need to perform more tests.”
Dorien flinched. Would he lose everything he held dear? If Evangeline survived this, he would swear on his oath to never hurt or fail to trust her again. His head hung in despair. Evangeline’s pale, still body was wheeled towards the ambulance on a gurney. Dorien made to follow after her. A medic stopped him with a quick hand to his muscled chest.
“Sorry, sir! Unless
you’re the patient’s husband, I am afraid you’ll have to take your own personal vehicle to the hospital. Sorry, but spouses only! Rules are rules!”
Dorien leaned into the medics face and growled in rage. In an apparent change of heart, the medic opened the ambulance door. “On your way then, Sir!”
In a single jump, Dorien was inside the ambulance. He turned towards Tommy and Philip. Tommy yelled from his car. “I’ll take Philip! We’ll follow behind you!”
Dorien nodded before the ambulance doors closed. The screaming sounds of sirens wailed in the air.
Husband!
This was an overlooked detail he would soon remedy. He had been a fool not to claim Evangeline as his bride. She deserved so much more than being regarded as his lover. If Evangeline didn’t hate him for eternity, he would ask her to be his wife. It was bittersweet to trail a line of kisses across her forehead. The warmth of her skin consumed every cold immortal cell in his lips. Closing his eyes, he clenched his shaking fists. Every fast-fleeting thought screamed her name. All he wanted was this woman. But would she ever find it in her heart to forgive him?
* * * *
Sitting idle didn’t suit him. Dorien paced the floor like a caged animal. The rubber tread of his shoes shuffled across the large expanse of waiting room. He counted blue specks embedded in the old linoleum floor. But it failed to distract him from his misery. His interest became lost after reaching twenty-two thousand.
The swift twist of a shiny brass doorknob jerked everyone’s attention towards the lovely woman wearing a long white coat. An air of regality followed her. An aura of presence commanded immediate respect. Dorien stopped his stride. Her lonely, pale, hazel-green gaze held his complete attention.
Spartan Heart, Part Two Page 2