"He doesn't need to see any more of this," I said, "and leaving him alone is even worse."
Marco agreed but then a smile passed over his face.
"You think Mason would let you borrow that outfit later?"
I laughed. "Oh, my God. We're in the middle of cleaning up a massive blood bath and you're looking at my ass."
"You mean you haven't been looking at mine?" he teased.
"Yes, Marco, but I can't look at any more of this either."
The compassion returned to his dark eyes as he kissed my forehead and said, "Go get cleaned up, Red. We've got this under control."
Elijah had seen me topless before, but never completely naked. Once we were in Mason's room he helped to loosen my corset, but remained outside the bathroom until he heard the water running. Mason's shower has glass doors too, but not like Dracula's. His doors are opaque instead of decorative. So, you can't see everything, just the outline of someone in the shower.
"Did you know Mason has the guitars of several dead rock stars in his closet?" he asked as he sat on the closed lid of the toilet.
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."
We talked about everything else in the world besides what had happened tonight and what had happened to Mary. He even put the wig back in the closet and commented on me looking better as a redhead.
"But the black wig was hot," he confessed.
Elijah removed his shirt while I scrubbed in the shower and washed off from the waist up at the sink. He handed me a towel over the top of the glass doors and we switched places. While he showered I got dressed and dried my hair. We were running out of things to talk about.
I handed him a towel and as Elijah stepped out I asked, "Are you going to be able to live with what happened tonight?"
He looked lost and I almost wished I hadn't asked, but I needed to know.
"Yes," he said. "What choice have I got? Marco said I didn't have to come. But I couldn't have lived with not avenging Mary. Someone deserved to suffer for what was done to her."
I agreed. But it broke my heart to see Elijah this way. He was still standing in the shower with the doors open and his body was warmer from the hot water. As I approached I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. The full moon was two weeks away and he was running a temperature like any other werewolf.
"I can help, if you'll let me," I said softly. "I can't make what happened to your sister go away, but I can make your burden easier to bear."
"You mean like you did before, when I saw Alfred kill all those werewolves?"
"Yes."
"But I thought you didn't know how to control it?"
"I've practiced," I said, offering him a weak smile. "If I can help you, I will. Because your eyes just aren't the same without their sparkle." I touched his face and Elijah's deep blue eyes became watery again. "It is a gift passed down from my great, great grandfather. He was a very powerful wizard," I explained. "I would give anything to make this right for you, but this is all I can offer."
As I spoke those last words I wrapped Elijah in my arms. He's only two inches taller than me, so my face fit perfectly into the curve of his neck as I embraced him. I put my hands flat against his back as I whispered, "Think of everything that hurts, and give it to me."
"How?" he asked.
"Breathe it out."
And he did. With every breath Elijah took I felt his misery lessen. All I wanted to do was to take him in my arms and make it go away. With all that was in me, I wanted to comfort Elijah. He rested his cheek against my face and sighed. With that sigh, I felt the tension begin to leave his body, and where my hands touched his back, began to flow into me. I couldn't take his memories, but I could take some of his pain. I held Elijah to me and did my best to ease his burden.
He took a deep breath as I pulled away and said, "Thank you. I feel … lighter."
I understood what he meant. Grief is a heavy thing to carry.
"You're welcome," I said softly.
I was weakened by the events of the night and by the energy it had taken to absorb Elijah's misery. But I didn't dare let him know it had affected me so strongly or he would feel guilty. Even after all I'd seen I needed to force myself to eat something and get some sleep.
He was able to talk about things now and it seemed to make him feel better. While Elijah got dressed he told me he was taking Mary back to Oklahoma for a funeral service with their family. He had already told his parents. Just the thought of how they must have reacted upset me, and I didn't ask how that had gone.
"Do they know that you're a werewolf?" I asked.
"Not yet," he sighed. "I'll probably tell them while I'm there."
Elijah said that Mary had wanted to be cremated. He said they'd talked about it after she was kidnapped a few months ago. After the service with their family, he was having her cremated and would be taking her ashes to the mountains as well as a few other places Mary had always wanted to go.
"We'll take the scenic route," he said with a bittersweet smile. "We always talked about taking a road trip. It's the least I can do for her."
It took everything I could do not to cry, but he seemed to feel better the more he talked, so I let him talk.
When we finally went back upstairs most of the cleaning had been finished. They had cleared out all the broken tables and debris as well as the body parts which had been scattered about. Mason had two male vamps mopping the floor, but it was mostly clean.
I walked over to Marco and put my arms around his waist.
"Feel better, Red?" he asked, kissing the top of my head.
We talked for a few minutes and he said that he had already discussed things with Dracula and I should go back with him.
"We don't know where Khan is," he explained, "and you might still be in danger. He couldn't find you before, so it stands to reason that he won't be able to find you now."
"What about you?" I asked.
"I've got a report to make to Aldan and Jacob. They're both waiting for news. Of course, I'll edit things a bit for your father. I think he only tolerates me now because he knows I love you," he said, flashing me his wolfish grin.
"So you won't come with us?" I asked hopefully.
I needed comfort, and I couldn't think of anything more comforting than being with Dracula and Marco.
"I can't," he sighed. "I've still got to check on Luther too, and Elijah will be coming back with me. But if it's comfort you're looking for, I could send Bade."
That didn't sound so bad. His words made it clear that if I was looking for more than comfort Bade had better not go with me. But it was safe to send Bade. All I'd seen tonight had definitely put a damper on my libido. I just craved the nearness of the pack. There was safety in numbers and that's what I needed.
Dracula walked past us on his way to the car. He touched my arm lightly and said, "The dawn is fast approaching, my angel."
I smiled up at Marco as I pulled his lips closer to mine. It felt like years since I'd kissed him, but the moment his lips touched mine it seemed like only yesterday. I would have waited years. I would have waited a lifetime for the chance to touch Marco again.
"I'll see you soon," he promised as I turned to leave.
On my way past Bade I saw Mason handing him a video camera.
"Get a good camera angle, won't you?" Mason said.
"Get your ass inside before you burn," Bade laughed.
Mason was leaving Bade outside to film the sunrise, but it wasn't the beautiful horizon he was interested in. He just wanted to see the pile of dead vampires burn. Bade followed me to the car and smacked my ass before I sat down.
"I'll bring something to eat with me," he said with a wink.
"Can I let him in?" I asked Dracula.
"You will need to show him the way," he said. "I will explain while we drive."
It was less than two hours before sunrise, and I had no desire to see Dracula burn. The urgency in his voice made me nervous. As we started back toward Original Sin he explained.
"Bade has never been to my castle."
"I'm sorry. Should I have asked him to come?"
"It is fine, my angel. I do not believe he will disclose my location. Only he, Mason, and the wolf king know where I sleep." He touched my thigh as he spoke as if to say, "and you."
He drove quickly and wasted no time getting below ground. I could barely keep up and yet I knew he was slowing down for my benefit.
"Forgive me, my angel but I must rest. Here," he said as he handed me a small phial from underneath the vanity in his bathroom. I watched as Dracula ran his index finger over his fangs and let two drops of blood fall into the small cylinder I held.
"Now you can get back in with Bade," he said.
He jumped in the shower and bathed at super human speed.
"I did not wish to ruin the sheets," he explained, smiling as he hastened toward the bed.
No sooner had he gotten underneath the sheets than I looked at the clock. It was time for the sunrise. I watched as Dracula's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his dark lashes fluttered. He was dead to the world and he trusted me enough to not only allow me access to his lair, but reentry with someone else.
But he was right to trust me. I would have defended his helpless form at any cost.
?
Chapter Sixteen
I got a call from Bade about twenty minutes later. He was on his way. By the time I made my way back up to Original Sin, he was waiting at the door.
"How far do we have to go?" he asked, reaching for me.
"Far enough."
"Can you make it?" he asked softly.
I must have looked really bad.
"I don't have much choice. You can't carry me where we're going," I said, offering him the best smile I could in my weakened state.
Bade had brought breakfast with him, and from the smell of things it was pancakes. He followed me with the food as we reentered the office before locking the door from the inside. He seemed impressed with Dracula's hidden door behind the mirror.
"Holy shit," he gasped as we descended the massive staircase.
He looked over the side into what appeared to be complete nothingness.
"Bade," I said pulling him back toward me. "There's no handrail, don't push your luck."
"Would you miss me, love?" he teased as we continued down the stairs.
"Don't spread it around, but I think I might."
He rowed us across the lake because I wasn't capable. I was growing weaker by the minute but I didn't ask Bade to hurry. He was in awe of the lake and the moon flowers, just as I had been, and the castle caused him to pause for a few minutes before he realized we weren't moving.
"Sorry, love," he called over his shoulder. "But I've never seen anything like this before."
I understood. Until recently, neither had I. Once we reached the bank he asked, "So if Dracula's asleep, how the hell do we get in?"
We walked over to the boulder which hid the secret entrance and Bade watched in fascination as I removed the phial from my pocket. My vision was beginning to blur as the two small drops of Dracula's blood fell onto the rock revealing the door.
Bade was staring so hard at the inside of the castle that he nearly ran into a few walls while I led him to the kitchen. Even though he had no personal use for it, Dracula had a magnificent kitchen. It matched the scale and beauty of the rest of the castle and I collapsed at the table once we were there.
"I know you prefer fruit for breakfast, but considering how much power you had to use tonight, I figured you could use something with sugar. So, I got you pancakes and syrup," he said with a smile.
"What are you eating?"
"A cheeseburger and fries," he laughed.
Obviously he'd gone to a place that was open twenty four hours. Nowhere else around here would serve burgers and fries an hour past dawn. I started eating while Bade poured me a glass of milk. I ate slowly so as not to upset my empty stomach. I was to the point that I didn't want to eat even though I was hungry, which meant I was weaker than I'd thought.
He was wearing another pair of faded jeans and a tight red t-shirt which said, "The Red Light Special" across the chest. Bade was huge and his impressive muscles were only accentuated more by the well-fitted jeans and tight shirt. No one could compete with how good Marco looked in jeans, but Bade could have won a separate competition. As a matter of fact, as long as Marco wasn't around to measure up to, Bade had no competition.
His muscles were enormous, but they matched the rest of him. He was six foot four and perfectly proportioned. He didn't look like an overdone bodybuilder, he was just big and well defined. Marco and Bade were both well built; however Bade's curves didn't have as many sharp angles as Marco's did.
He looked at me, and I knew Bade was speaking but I didn't hear a word he said. He had the most unusual eye color. In fact, his eyes sort of reminded me of an Alaskan Husky. I was admiring the icy blue of his eyes when I blacked out.
* * * *
When I came to I could hear water running and I was lying on a towel in the floor. I could barely move. I rolled to my back to see Bade standing over me.
"You passed out," he explained needlessly.
We were in the bathroom with the large tub and I wondered how he had gotten here without directions.
"How did you know where to find the bathroom?"
"I followed the scent of the shampoo Dracula used this morning."
"But he was in the shower in the other bathroom," I objected.
"You don't think I've got enough sense to walk across a room?" he laughed. "Give me some credit, love."
I couldn't help smiling, even though it was a feeble attempt. Bade's deep voice and strong Australian accent had become so familiar to me that I wondered how we could have ever been enemies.
"Why are we in the bathroom?"
"Because you passed out face down in the syrup," he snickered. "I've got to wash it out of your hair."
That made sense. I didn't want to go to sleep with syrup in my hair, and I couldn't stand up to take a shower. Bade removed my jeans and t-shirt gently, and expertly. Even though I was fairly certain he wouldn't molest me without permission, I had a moment of doubt.