Carnage

by Sandra R Neeley

  “’Morning, Ms. Carolena. Yes, I think maybe you can.” He shuffled his feet like he was uncomfortable.

  “I’d like to apologize for my behavior at my place the other day. I’m very protective of my family, and I judged you to be like all the rest. My most sincere apologies if I offended you,” he said as he raised his head to look her in the eye.

  Carolena smiled, she went down the stairs and right up to Simon where he stood, clutching the hands of his children in his own. She extended her hand to him, waiting for him to take it. He released Seth’s hand and took hers. Carolena shook his hand as a man would. “Thank you for your apology, Simon. But it’s honestly not necessary. I admire any male who protects his family so fiercely.”

  Simon smiled shyly at her, “Thank you. Anyway, I was, we was, wondering if you would still be interested in teaching our kids. They really want to learn, and Sera and me was hoping that you’d still be interested.”

  Carolena looked down at the children, both with huge smiles on their faces, waiting for her answer.

  “I’d be honored, Simon. Thank you for asking me, and for trusting me,” Carolena told him.

  Chapter 16

  Carolena sat on the ground in front of Enthrall’s home. She watched Seth and Serena diligently trying to recreate the letters she’d made for them in the dirt. It had been days since she’d seen Carnage. He came home most nights, and she knew this only because when he left each morning, he left a flower on the pillow next to her. She didn’t remember him being there, though, and she was lonely without him. She missed him. He’d said he wanted her to love him, but he was never there to spend time with. How did he expect her to grow to love him, if he was never there? She had no doubt that she’d chosen the right male; her commitment to that never waivered. But the fact that he spent all his waking moments away from her, without explanation, was becoming very worrisome. And her heart hurt. She sat upright, her heart hurt! She did love him. He’d stolen her heart, then disappeared. “Damn him!” she whispered harshly to herself.

  Both children stopped trying to write their alphabets in the dirt and watched her closely. She stood, stomped a couple of feet away, then seemed to remember that Seth and Serena were in her care today while she taught them to read and write. She hurried back to them, changing the subject and hoping they’d ignore her outburst.

  “Let’s see how you’ve done,” Carolena said as she knelt beside them, checking their work. “Very good,” she said, beaming at the children, “Very good indeed.”

  “Are you okay, Ms. Carolena?” Seth asked.

  “Of course I am, why would you ask, Seth?” Carolena asked.

  “Well, because you just damned somebody. And you was stomping your feet,” he explained. Seth got to his own feet and looked around the yard. When he looked back to her, his eyes had changed colors, and he was hissing softly. “Who do you need damned, Ms. Carolena? Did somebody hurt you?” he asked protectively, still looking around the yard for whomever had upset her.

  Carolena realized that he meant to protect her, “No one, Seth. Everything is okay, I promise. I was just a little irritated, but I’m fine now,” she explained.

  Seth glanced around the yard once more before saying, “Okay, if you’re sure.” Then he sat down and began to trace out his letters again.

  Carolena looked around the yard herself, hoping for Carnage to appear. But time passed, and he didn’t. She resolved to stay awake all night if she had to, so that she could confront him. She was tired of being an afterthought. If he didn’t want her, she needed to know, now before she fell any deeper for him.

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Carnage worked for most of the day as he had the last several days, reassembling the home that he and Murder had moved piece by piece to where it now stood. Most of it was finished, but not all. They’d framed the entire thing, replaced the floor joists, and laid the floor. They’d reassembled the walls, and put the rafters in place for the roof, and replaced the tin on the roof. They had only to plaster the inside walls, and put a railing up to frame in the large platform they’d built it on. They’d built the platform in the same way one would a deck, then rebuilt the house right in the center of it. That left a good eighteen feet of deck in front of the house, about twelve behind the house, and there was ten feet of deck extending on both the left and right sides of the house. Carnage planned to build a set of stairs that would lead from the ground up to the deck, also with a railing on either side. This way the house was up off the ground, so no slithering creatures, or creepy crawlies to scare his Leena, and the house was up in the trees, so that it would be cooler, and the Eucalyptus scent more prevalent to keep the mosquitoes and other stinging and biting insects away from her. Tonight, they planned to install a water cistern, and connect pipes to bring the water to a tub, just like the one that Enthrall had. Carolena loved to soak in the bath, so he was going to make sure she had that same luxury in her own home. Murder had already installed a sink in the kitchen and a toilet and sink in the bathroom. The pipes had been run; he only needed to hook them up once the cistern was in place. The pipes for the toilet were already installed. Gravity would do its job, and he’d dug a deep hole in the ground some thirty feet from the house. The pipe leading from the toilet fed directly into the hole and into an additional cistern he’d buried in the ground to collect waste, then covered and filled the hole in. With just the two of them living there, the waste pit would take a long time to fill. When it did, he’d just dig another.

  Before they’d roofed the house, Murder had brought the furniture in through the top. They had a bed, a table, chairs, a couch, two chests of drawers and a chifferobe to keep their clothes in. They’d installed cabinets and the wood burning stove in the kitchen, and shelves and cabinets in the bathroom for Carolena to store her linens. He’d already made arrangements for Enthrall to bring linens, towels, and anything he thought that Carolena would need in her own home. And Enthrall had made several trips to town over the last days bringing back as much as he could each time. Carnage smiled as he stood in the center of the living room, looking around at the home he’d created for his woman. He was very proud of it. He hoped she’d like it and want to live there with him.

  Murder walked into the room breaking his thoughts, “Do you want to try to finish tonight? There’s not much left. All the furniture is moved in — all we still have to do is connect the roof cistern. We could finish it tonight if we work all night.”

  Carnage nodded his agreement and then walked over to the wall. He rubbed his hand up and down it and looked back at Murder.

  Murder spoke, “Yes, the walls, too. We need to plaster the walls. We might be able to finish it tonight. If not, definitely tomorrow.”

  Carnage grinned, “‘Es!”

  “Well, then, let’s get to work. The sooner you get your female here and away from Enthrall and Destroy, the better,” Murder said.

  Carnage’s brow furrowed. He wasn’t sure why Murder thought it was a bad thing that she’d become friends with the other two men. She’d already told him she’d be friends with whomever she chose, and she’d already claimed him. He knew that she only wanted him, but Murder’s words put suspicion in his heart. He’d have to watch Enthrall and Destroy closely. Maybe Murder saw something he didn’t.

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Carolena was seated on the front steps, waiting for Carnage to arrive. It was dusk out and the sun had almost set. Simon had come for his kids earlier in the afternoon, and she’d been alone since then. Destroy was lurking, she had no doubt, but he didn’t always make himself known until she settled with a book in her hands, or unless she started off on a walk. Then he’d be there, without fail, every time. She’d given up waiting for Carnage to come back to her each night, so she’d started reading the rest of The Beauty and The Beast to Destroy. He begged incessantly, and it seemed foolish to wait to finish it for a male who wasn’t interested in being there to hear it. Most nights Enthrall would join them as well.

  Enthra
ll had disappeared earlier in the afternoon while Seth and Serena were still there. He’d watched her giving them their lessons for a bit, excused himself and disappeared.

  Now though, there was a male striding toward her through the gloaming, and she perked up, thinking it Carnage. But it wasn’t. It was Enthrall. He was striding toward her with a package in his hands and a huge smile on his face. He knew that when he ghosted from one location to another it greatly unsettled her, so he tried to ghost to a location just out of sight and walk into the house whenever he could. She appreciated his effort, but it wasn’t necessary — it was after all, his home, not hers.

  She tried to quickly hide her disappointment that he wasn’t Carnage and greeted him, “Hello, Enthrall.”

  “Hello, Carolena,” he said as he came closer, holding the package out to her.

  “What’s this?” she asked, surprised.

  “Open it,” he said.

  “For me?” she asked.

  “Well, not exactly, but in a way of sorts,” he answered.

  Carolena watched him curiously as she tore the tissue paper wrapping and found inside three small slate boards and several boxes of chalk. She looked up at Enthrall, her mouth open in surprise, “I can’t believe you did this!”

  “It’s nothing really, Carolena. I just saw you teaching the children earlier, writing in the dirt with sticks and decided that you needed better tools. So I went into town and bought these.”

  Enthrall was standing right beside her and she stood to wrap her arms around him, “Thank you, Enthrall. You are truly a good man,” she said earnestly as she hugged him.

  He chuckled sadly, “Maybe once, now I’m just a male, not really a man any longer.”

  “You’re a good man, Enthrall. And thank you, so much! Seth and Serena will be so excited tomorrow!” Carolena said.

  Enthrall stood there, letting her hug him for as long as she wanted, hugging her back, soaking in the contact. It was the first contact of any sort he’d had in a long while. He hungered so for any type of warmth. And when genuine and from a female he admired, even more so. Unfortunately, she pulled away all too soon, changing the subject as she rewrapped her slate boards.

  “Do you know where Carnage is?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Not exactly. Why?” he asked.

  “I’ve not seen him in days,” she answered.

  “He comes back at night, I can scent that he’s been here,” Enthrall told her.

  Carolena nodded, “Yes, he leaves me a flower on my bed pillow when he leaves. But he doesn’t wake me. He doesn’t talk to me. I never see him,” she said sadly.

  “You miss him,” Enthrall said.

  Carolena sighed deeply, turning to go up the steps and into the house, “Perhaps. He doesn’t appear to have the same feeling though. Maybe I was wrong in thinking I knew how he felt for me.”

  Enthrall watched her go into his home, still talking as though he was right behind her. He looked around his yard, saw Destroy sitting high up in a huge tree just at the edge of the yard and held eye contact for just a moment. Destroy had heard her, and Destroy was just waiting for an opportunity to step in where Carnage was stupid enough to allow it.

  Enthrall followed Carolena into the house.

  She had placed the slate boards on the couch and was in the kitchen preparing dinner for them.

  He took a seat at the table, “Carolena, don’t count him out. I don’t claim to understand Carnage. But you seem to. His absence is not without reason. Give him more credit than that.”

  Carolena continued making dinner, “I’m trying. I’m just lonely. I miss him.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be here more often before you know it,” Enthrall told her. He wanted to kick himself. She was doubting Carnage; he could have taken advantage of that and turned her attentions toward himself. But he didn’t. Because he was indeed a good male. And because he’d seen the way she looked at Carnage — she’d never looked at him that way. His reverie was broken by her asking a question, apparently he’d not heard her the first time.

  “If you’d rather not explain, that’s fine, I was just curious,” she said.

  “I’m sorry, say again,” he said.

  “I said, if you’re a Vampire…” she started.

  “There is no if about it, I am Vampire,” he told her, amused.

  “Fine, as I was saying, if you’re a Vampire, why do you eat regular food? Why do you not drink blood?” she asked.

  He smiled at her, deciding to indulge her curiosity, “I do drink blood, just not as often as you’d think. And I eat regular food because I’m alive just like you are. I need the same sustenance you do. I just need living blood to supplement my own. I have sources nearby. When the need gets too great, I take what I must.”

  “You don’t kill to take it?” she asked.

  “Not any longer. I’ve learned control as I’ve aged,” he told her, smiling when her head whipped around to regard him thoughtfully.

  They enjoyed a quiet dinner, and later when she picked up her book to read, Destroy magically appeared at the front door. Enthrall looked to Carolena who nodded, smiling. Enthrall invited him in, and she read to them for a while. When she became tired, she took a bath and went to her room to wait for Carnage. She was not going to sleep this night until she’d spoken with him about his absences. She wanted him to be truthful with her.

  Hours later she jerked awake on her bed where she’d fallen asleep while waiting for him to come to her. She looked around, still alone. Carolena got up and went to the living room, taking a seat on the couch, determined to wait for Carnage.

  Chapter 17

  The sunshine of the next morning woke her. Still, Carnage had not come. He’d stayed away all night. Surely that said something. Sadly, she made her way to her bedroom to dress and prepare for Seth and Serena to arrive as they did each morning now for their lessons. Her heart hurt. She hated this. And she was angry with herself for believing that a creature such as Carnage could ever be satisfied with her. He was amazing, handsome, strong, passionate; what could he possibly see in a simple human. She berated herself all the way to the breakfast table. Her state of mind was not missed by Enthrall, who silently placed a bowl of oats in front of her.

  She picked up her spoon and mechanically began to eat, staring sightlessly ahead.

  Enthrall watched as he ate his own breakfast, but could not contain his comments as he watched her hurt. “Do not assume what you are not sure of, Carolena.”

  She was silent for a moment before quietly answering, “I am trying not to.”

  The day went much the same as the previous days without Carnage. She taught the children, who always managed to make her smile. They had a picnic for lunch, and then she read to them from a book of fairy tales that Enthrall kept in his library. They loved hearing the stories almost as much as learning to write their letters.

  Early afternoon brought Simon to pick them up, and this day he brought along several jars of fruits that Serafina had sent for her. She refused to accept payment, so Serafina had found a way around that, by sending preserved figs, peaches and cherries, which Carolena very happily accepted.

  Enthrall took her to visit her Dragon tree, and afterward they made their way back home, intending to share a snack of the preserves that Serafina had gifted Carolena. Only there was not enough bread, so the afternoon turned into a bread making lesson.

  The doors and windows to Enthrall’s home were open to allow a breeze through to offset the heat from the wood burning stove they would use to bake their bread.

  Enthrall cleaned the table well, then sprinkled a little flour on it to assist when they rolled out the dough. He brought out his bread bowl and handed it to Carolena. “Here, you will make it. You need to know how to make bread so that you can provide your own home with bread once you move out.”

  Carolena took the bowl from him, looking sadly at him. “I’m not sure where I’ll be moving to. I may be here a little longer than I thought.”


  “Nonsense. You will be in your own home before you know it,” he answered.

  She said nothing, just looked at the bowl in her hands.

  “But regardless, I would be honored if you would always consider this your home. You are always welcome here, no matter the reason. The bedroom you sleep in is always yours, Carolena,” Enthrall told her.

  Carolena smiled then, “Thank you, Enthrall.”

  Enthrall gave her a small bow and a smile. “Now, let us begin with our bread. Imagine! A female unable to cook!” he said tsking and grinning as he tried to raise her ire, distract her from her sad thoughts.

  It worked, “I can cook! You know I cook, I’ve made dinner and lunch for us all, often!” she declared indignantly.

  “Perhaps a little, but bread? Cakes? Are you able to make them? They are somewhat more difficult and do take a bit of expertise,” he teased her.

  Carolena raised her chin in the air defiantly, “No. I cannot make bread, but only because I’ve never tried. And I do not need to know how to make cakes, I prefer pies!”

  “Ah, well, then we shall remedy that this day. Come, woman, let us make bread, we’ll save the cakes for another day.” Enthrall said, taking her by the hand and leading her to the kitchen counter top to start mixing the ingredients for the crusty French bread he loved so well.

  Carolena grumbled, “I said I prefer pies.”

  “Yes, I am aware,” Enthrall teased back, “We shall make cakes.”

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Carnage and Murder had worked through the night, and most of the morning. Carolena’s home was, for the most part complete. He still needed to do some caulking and he had no doubt she’d want to hang curtains in their windows and decorate it in the way a woman would, but it was livable. He’d installed the window that Enthrall had brought him to replace the one he’d broken. There were screens on all the windows, which allowed him to open them without letting insects in. He’d installed the windows in such a way as to create a cross breeze when he opened one at the front of the home and another at the back. He could open and close other windows to pull the breeze in any direction he chose — it was quite ingenious. He was exhausted, working from sun up to well into the night each night, and then last night’s all nighter. But it was worth it. He’d be able to bring Carolena home today. He was thrilled. He’d be able to spend more time with her and win her heart. Taking one last look around, he was satisfied with the appearance of their home. He placed the handful of wild flowers in the mason jar in the middle of the kitchen table and walked out, closing the door behind himself.