A Devilish Slumber

by Shereen Vedam

  Suddenly, Phillip realized why he never liked this man. Trenton displayed that same predatory gaze when he watched Rose as he did when observing Ben. The butler had known all along the two were one and the same. And he loved Rose. Both were indisputable facts, even if Rose was blind to the truth.

  Reclining on the side of Rose’s chair, Phillip now possessively draped his arm around the woman he loved.

  Trenton’s glance switched to him. The resignation there convinced Phillip that he would not have to call Rose’s butler out once the man recovered from his current injury.

  “What are we to do with your sister now?” Pollard asked.

  “Eve knows too much,” Rose said in a sad tone. “She is aware of all of us and will not hesitate to use that knowledge against us. And even though we have destroyed Miss Wood’s listing, Eve could recreate a part of it from memory.”

  “Even if we all go into hiding,” Trenton said, “once word gets out that there are shifters in England, a witch-hunt is sure to begin. We would still be in danger.”

  “I have an idea,” Rose said. “The only proof she has for her claim is her own ability to shift. If we take that away, anything she could say would be met with ridicule.”

  “Ahh!” Trenton said. “Perfect.”

  Rose and Trenton exchanged a glance and nodded.

  Phillip did not like being left out of that understanding. “I do not see the perfection in this plan. How can you prevent her from shifting if it is an innate ability?”

  “Young Hope, sir.” Trenton glanced at the young girl sitting quietly beside her grandmother. “We have Hope on our side.”

  Mrs. Weatheringham then proceeded to explain about her granddaughter’s unique talent to permanently stop a person from shifting.

  Phillip was concerned by this plan. Hope had already endured a harrowing experience this day at Eve’s hands. “Is this something you are willing to do, Hope?”

  The child’s gaze flew from him to her grandmother and then back. Then with a brave lifting of her chin, she nodded.

  Not trusting Rose’s sister, Phillip accompanied Stony to fetch her.

  She was once again wearing Mrs. Rochester’s visage. He marveled at her control. Rose had said it drained her to hold a shift for long periods of time. He stood her up and noted that someone had bandaged Eve’s right hand where the dagger had burned her palm. Eve remained silent the whole way back to the drawing room.

  In his absence, the alliance members had arranged themselves by the walls, away from the main area where two chairs had been positioned toward each other. Even Trenton had left the settee to lean against a window ledge.

  Rose stood beside one of the two facing chairs.

  “What do you intend to do?” Eve’s angry gaze challenged Rose. “As if I do not know. You would see your sister hung on the gallows. How then are you so different from me?”

  “She did not betray England,” Phillip said in a measured tone as he led her to one of the chairs. “Nor has she killed anyone.”

  “Yet,” her sister replied, her gaze fastened on Rose.

  “I cannot allow you to harm anyone else, Eve,” Rose said in a firm tone. “These killings must stop.”

  “What about killing me? Or do I not count as one of the people you love?”

  “You are my sister by blood. But I lost the sister of my heart long ago.”

  “If you take me in, I will point to all of you. I may no longer have your names, but I know what you can do, and I will not be silent.” Her surprised gaze halted by Trenton. “You are still alive.”

  He bowed to her.

  “You are a handsome devil.” Eve tried to pull out of Phillip’s arm but he held her firm and escorted her to the chair they had reserved for her.

  She turned on him. “I shall choose where I sit.”

  “You will sit here,” Phillip said, implacable. Then he tied her arms around the back of the chair, testing the knots before he was satisfied it was safe to release hold of her.

  “We could have dealt reasonably well together, Daniel, if not for your bad taste in preferring my sister’s company. It is not too late to change your allegiance.”

  “A trifle difficult,” he said, “since this hole you put in me insists on bleeding.”

  “Pain can be erotic, if played with the right cord.”

  Trenton had begun to bleed again, staining his black shirt darker.

  Rose hurried over to him and with the help of a footman, assisted him into a chair. “You should have stayed in bed.”

  “I could not miss this,” he said from between gritted teeth. “I may be in no shape to save you, but I will not let you face her without me.”

  She hesitated as if seeing something in Trenton’s gaze that confused her. She glanced back at Phillip and, catching her worried glance, he realized that she finally understood Trenton’s affection for her. He held out his arm and she retreated to his side.

  “Such a loving couple.” Eve wore a scornful smile. “Do you see them, Daniel? Do they not seem perfect for each other? Does not their music resound as if from heaven? I can barely concentrate for the horns blasting wild in my head.”

  “Leave Daniel out of your madness,” Rose said. “Why do you persist in baiting him? He has nothing to do with you.”

  “Wrong, sister. While in your presence, he feels my pain. Hears the same music I have heard all of my life. We are very much alike, are we not, Daniel?”

  “Let us finish this.” Phillip released Rose’s hand to approach Mrs. Weatheringham and her granddaughter. He bent to Hope’s level. Now the time was near for her to act, the child looked terrified, and rightfully so. Poor mite. “Did you understand what you must do, Hope?”

  She nodded solemnly.

  “Are you brave enough to do this?”

  Again the silent nod.

  “Come then.” He held out his hand. “Once you face her, Hope,” he said in a gentle voice, “she will not frighten you anymore. Do you believe me?”

  Her lower lip trembled but again Hope nodded and took his large hand in hers. Together, they approached Eve.

  He began to understand now why Rose loved these people. They had courage, something lacking among many of his shallower acquaintances. He squeezed the child’s hand before gently releasing Hope’s tight grip on his fingers. “She cannot hurt you anymore, Hope.”

  The little girl stayed attached to his side for the longest moment and then tentatively she sat in the chair facing Eve. Taking a deep breath, she reached toward Eve’s face.

  “What is she doing?” Eve asked, her eyes wide with fright. “That list did not mention this child. Was that an omission? Answer me, Rose. What can the child do?”

  “This will soon be over,” Rose said in a choked voice.

  Phillip returned to take Rose’s hand.

  Hope leaned forward, her fingers twitching, her arm extended toward Eve’s flinching face.

  Suddenly, Eve wrapped both her legs around Hope and twisted her around. She brought her injured right arm forward and pulled Hope toward her, clenching the child’s slim throat with her left hand.

  “No!” Rose cried.

  Mrs. Weatheringham echoed that call.

  Rose would have lunged in to save Hope, but Phillip pulled her back. Any such move could endanger the child’s life. His pulse hammered as he ran through his options on how to safely remove Hope from Eve’s clasp. All the while, he cursed himself, for he had promised the little girl that Eve would not harm her.

  With Hope in her fierce grip, Eve leaned back and laughed. “You did not quite understand the meaning of our ability to shift, did you, Sir Phillip?”

  Eve waved her bandaged hand back and forth, the rope dangling off her wrist. He marveled at its bony appearance, the skin over the bones so thin, it was
almost transparent. When he had tied those knots, her arms had appeared a little slender but normally fleshed.

  “Being a spy taught me the importance of preparation in case things go wrong. You obviously missed that lesson. But then, you are a man. You were never pushed to endure hardships as I had to these past three years.” Bitterness laced her words. “That is how I ended up with this useless body, by trying to survive. Well, I no longer have any use for it.”

  Her whole figure blossomed and shrank until Mrs. Rochester sat where skeletal Eve had been.

  “Do you like this body better, Sir Phillip?” she asked. “Much more pleasing, is it not, and suitable for a life as a lady rather than a spy?”

  The transformation merely ground in to him his mistake in thinking her properly restrained. How often had she fooled him? How difficult it had been to trust Rose, yet he had believed every fairytale Eve had woven. Well, no more. “Whatever face you wear, you will remain the bitter, mad, emaciated creature you are in your soul.”

  “It was not so once. Do you not remember? I used to be beautiful.”

  Hope wiggled, but Eve retained her tight hold on the child, keeping Hope’s arms trapped at her sides.

  “Harm her and you will not leave here alive,” he said in a deadly voice.

  Eve returned his stare in silence for a moment. “I see we understand each other, Sir Phillip. Kindly arrange for a carriage to take me somewhere far away. I find I have a touch of wanderlust again. England has worn thin on amusements, even in its music. When once this city was pleasant, it now sounds intrusive. Hope, dearest, would you like to accompany your Auntie Eve to Europe?”

  ROSE STEPPED forward, pulling away from Phillip’s restraining hand. This was her sister. Her problem. She must deal with Eve once and for all. “No, Hope would not like to accompany you. You will not leave this house with her. I promise you that, Eve. Look around.” She waited as Eve noted all the alliance members swarming around them. “The only way you will leave here alive is if you release that child.”

  “I see your point.” Eve eased her grip on the girl. “See? I mean her no harm. She is a sweet child and since you all seem fond of her, I will release her once I am inside my carriage. But not until then.”

  “No!” Hope said in an angry voice. Within her captor’s loosened grip, she wriggled her right hand free and touched Eve’s face. “You are a bad lady. You must stop.”

  Eve’s appearance shifted abruptly and she screamed.

  Hope wiggled loose and ran to her grandmother.

  “Eve!” Rose cried in horror. Her sister’s face had returned to her own but the change did not stop there. Eve’s body was quivering like a bowstring pulled too far back and released.

  “What is happening?” her sister asked in a terrified voice. She glanced at herself and saw the places where her skin was falling away in pieces, leaving behind raw, angry-looking patches of flesh with white protruding bones. “What has that devil child done to me?”

  Rose knelt by Eve and a couple of her sister’s finger bones bounced off her skirt and rolled to the ground. Her heart squeezing in horror, she leaned forward to hold her frightened sister. “Hope stopped your shifting, my dear.”

  Eve was no more than withering skin and bones. As Rose’s talent had helped her heal herself, Eve’s talent must have been all that held her together. Stripping her of her talent had ended all that.

  Rose’s sorrow for her beautiful sister welled like a flooding river. Since Eve had lived on lies all of her life, Rose fed her one more to carry her to her end. “You will be all right, Eve,” she whispered, “I am sure you will recover, given time.”

  “Rose, I cannot see you. The room has grown so murky. Is that part of what Hope did? Why can I not see you?”

  Rose swallowed, bile rising up in her throat. Eve’s eyes were hanging out of their sockets in odd directions. “You will be all right, Eve.”

  “I hear music.” Eve twitched as if to an imaginary tune. “It is . . . discordant.” She slid sideways, bits of her hair and scalp clinging to the fabric at the back of the chair. “So wild. Boisterous. Unharmonious. Leading me.” She lay slumped over Rose’s shoulder. “Where am I? I cannot see. Rose!” Her voice cracked and splintered. “Music. Calling.” Eve lay still.

  She was gone.

  “What happened?” Miss Wood asked in a trembling voice.

  Rose shook her head, unable to speak as Phillip gently extracted her from the bits of her sister still clinging to her.

  “I believe I know,” Mrs. Weatheringham said, “for I have felt just that change myself.” She soothingly patted her granddaughter’s back. “When Hope stopped my ability to change, I reverted to this body, an elderly woman barely clinging to life. Lady Evelyn’s gift kept her alive this long and when Hope took that away, she could not hold herself together any longer.”

  The older woman looked around at the alliance members and then nodded at Eve. “This is something we should all keep in mind. If shifting is done to excess without rest and replenishment, this will be the consequence.”

  Phillip drew Rose away from her sister’s remains.

  She turned into his hold, shaking uncontrollably. He understood her greatest fear—losing another person whom she loved.

  “You cannot ensure everyone’s safety, Rose.” His words were a gentle rebuke for endangering her life for the alliance members’ safety.

  He was right. She could not control what happened to others. She could only love them and pray that they would remain safe. She could trust in them. And in Phillip. She hugged him back, grateful that he was still in her life.

  He held her close while two footmen carefully placed Eve’s corpse on a pallet and carried it out of the drawing room.

  “What are we going to do with both of them?” Mrs. Pollard asked.

  “Eve will receive a proper burial,” Rose said in a firm tone. “Next to our parents.”

  “And with the help of a couple of your staff, I shall deliver Gervais’s body to a warehouse in Wapping,” Phillip said. “And then I will inform the River Police that I saw him near there the night Mrs. Beaumont was killed. That I tracked him down and had to shoot him when he tried to attack me. I did run past an irate Frenchman that night as I followed the lady’s cry for help. He was likely keeping watch for Eve. That should close this case.” He pulled back from Rose. “I will not be long. Will you be all right until then?”

  She nodded and reluctantly released him.

  Once Phillip left, Rose and the alliance members cleaned up the drawing room and retired to the library.

  Pollard ensured everyone had something to eat, insisting that they keep up their strengths. She sent Hannah around the room with a tray, offering sliced oranges or cheese to each alliance member. The housekeeper vowed that not one of her charges would ever go hungry again.

  Stony grunted his approval of that plan.

  They sat and chatted by a warm fire while awaiting Phillip’s return. Hope cuddled on Rose’s lap and she smoothed the child’s soft hair. She seemed to have recovered remarkably quickly. “I am pleased to see you cheerful again, little one.”

  Hope nodded. “Sir Phillip was right.”

  “About what?”

  “When I faced her, she did not frighten me anymore. I love Sir Phillip. I am going to marry him when I am older.”

  The comment broke the silence in the room and several people chuckled, including Mrs. Weatheringham.

  Even Miss Wood wore a sad smile. “I am sorry I endangered all of your lives with my listing. I promise never to pen anything like that again.”

  “You are forgiven,” Rose said. “As I hope I will be for allowing Eve to stay in this house with all of you.”

  “All ended as it should, as Helen would have wanted,” Mrs. Weatheringham said. “Not only are we safe, but you have re
joined the world of the living and are prepared to lead us. And Sir Phillip will be a wonderful protector for us. We could not ask for more.”

  “I could.” Miss Wood settled her spectacles more snugly on the bridge of her nose. “I can hardly wait to delve into the books in the attic. You have centuries-old volumes that speak of ancient lore. I even found one with a sketch of a Cimaruta, Lady Roselyn, though I have not had enough time to explore it at length.” She held up the two amulets recovered from Eve’s body before she was taken away. “I have these to compare with that drawing. I also have a few questions for you about them.”

  “Does our presence in the library hinder you from a more interesting occupation?” Daniel asked, lying on the couch. His wound had been cleaned and dressed again. His teasing smile brought a matching one to Miss Wood’s lips.

  “I can leave off my research a bit longer, Mr. Trenton.” She gave Rose a concerned look. “But not too long.”

  Rose nodded in agreement, “You may ask me any number of questions tomorrow. I will be all yours.”

  “So she says,” Daniel said, “but means none of it except when it comes to her Prince Charming.”

  Rose’s glance slid toward him. She suddenly felt shy in his presence. “It was merely a turn of phrase.”

  “Just as it should be,” Mrs. Weatheringham said. A merry tone had returned to the old lady’s voice, now she was assured of her granddaughter’s safety. “We shall have a grand wedding.”

  “Whose wedding?” Hope asked with a puzzled look.

  “Your future intended.” Daniel slanted a mischievous look to Rose, daring her to get out of this new predicament.

  “What does he mean?” Hope asked.

  “He means that I am to marry Rose,” Phillip said. He was standing in the doorway.

  Rose’s heart hammered in joy as Hope jumped off Rose’s lap to run and hug the man of their dreams.