Dominic's Nemesis (32 page)

“Gideon, something has happened. When we
astraled back, I sort out Eden. She was disturbed. I would not cut
my visit short otherwise.”

“This woman is that important to you?”
Standing with his back to the wall of windows, the taller man
twined his fingers behind him. The question echoed curiosity more
than resentment.

“Gabriel is out of danger and he has you to
oversee the remainder of his recovery. And she is not the only
reason.” He sighed, as he thought of the myriad of troubles that
awaited him back home. “Stephan did not look altogether calm. If he
too is disturbed then it is imperative that I return. His ability
is volatile and he is not in full control of it. We cannot afford
another incident. The talk will not be so easily quelled outside
the University walls. Gossip travels fast, especially damning
gossip.”

“Very well, then. I shall speak with the
solicitor about your ‘change of heart
’
concerning the management of the legacy.” His
brother shot him a sardonic smile. “Nonna will be ecstatic.”

Dominic groaned. One thing about Gideon, he
did have a sense of humor, albeit macabre. “Please endeavor to
contain her euphoria within the Italian borders. The estate is
full-up at the moment.”

* * *

The lacquered grand pitched sideways,
throwing an already unsteady gait into further peril. The influx of
alien memories and distorted perceptions assailing her caged mind
did not help the situation. She careened through decayed settings
and murky hallways with rank odors. Witnessed bizarre scenes of
screaming and crying. In one particularly disturbing visualization
she watched a woman being held down by pawing men on crisp
sheets…which seemed more like freakish love-play, than a forced
act. Flashes of the same woman slashing her forearm and thighs with
a knife came at her, sickening her.

Strange figures, some shroud in hooded capes,
paraded around intoning words that she couldn
’
t make sense of, that seemed somehow
sinister in their repetition. She wished she could shut her eyes
tight to somehow close them out, or raise her hands and pound the
visions from her head with the heels of her palms. When she made
the effort, only a flailing uncoordinated movement resulted.

“
They think you
’
re a lunatic, you and I
both.”

She could scarcely keep her thoughts clear of
the bombardment of images. Horror played in her mind like a
phonograph on infinite loop. The thoughts and events she saw must
belong to the evil thing taking over her body. If this was what the
entity’s mental process looked like, then Eden agreed…the
evil-thing was mad, and herself too by virtue of housing the spirit
of a madwoman inside her mind. She must get free somehow, and this
time, retain control of her facilities. It took a great deal of
mental fortitude, but she was able to shove the ceaseless visions
to an alcove at the back of her mind. Only then was she at liberty
to try her hand at dislodging the intruder. Flexing all her inner
energies and her will, she pushed against the presence.

“
Worrisome bitch!”

One realization encouraged her. The entity
could not sustain absolute control of her body. Instead of a steady
walking movement, against Eden
’
s concentrated mental resistance the thing could
only maneuver an undulating shuffle much like a crippled or a
hunchback. Or, she considered bitterly, it could be that the wound
at her wrist bled too profusely for her to hold a proper stance. By
then, the wad of gauze was soaked through with crimson.

Bobbing and weaving on scissored legs and a
twisted psyche, the entity brought them to a chamber door.
Dominic
’
s chamber door.
Her hand slipped in smeared blood as the entity fumbled with the
metal knob. After six successive tries she was successful.

“There is more amiss than Dominic knows…”

This time the voices did not originate from
inside her head. They drifted in from the adjoining room, the door
of which lay ajar.

“It must be dealt with, any threat to…”

She only caught snatches of the conversation,
not able to summon further strength to ambled past the bedpost. The
entity coiled her good arm around the carved cedar armoire and
slumped over. Blood lost, the strain of keeping her thoughts clear
of the mental garbage, and the energy she extended trying to evict
her unwanted visitor finally toppled them both. Her consciousness
blurred. The fine line between them, Eden
’
s psyche and the entity
’
s also blurred. Unwanted feelings and
remembrances attacked her like so many vampire bats in a feeding
frenzy. Her last rational thought was of Dominic and how grateful
she felt that he was still in Italy so that at least he
wouldn
’
t be the one to
find her bloody, stripe-haired corpse.

If he could breathe on the astral, he would
have sighed. But what he observed in his household left him more
confused than relieved. Eden
’
s essence hummed in a state of profound calm, a
striking contrast from the near palpable anxiety evident in
Kathleen and all three of his brothers. Forced by Nell
’
s presence, he rematerialized a
distance away, and found himself in the deserted hallway outside
his bedchamber door.

The vinegary scent of cleaning soap rent the
air. Dom frowned. This stretch of floor wasn
’
t scheduled to be swabbed for another two
weeks. And Nell should have been retired to the boarding house for
the night.

The servants were told nothing of his absence
so he had no need to make a show of his arrival home. He often
absented himself for days at a time so not seeing him would not
strike anyone as odd.

He slipped the spectacles from his lapel
pocket. After days of viewing the world free of their dimming pall,
donning them seemed wrong somehow. But no matter, he had bigger
concerns with which to occupy his mind. Dominic fingered the knob,
noticing it too had recently come under a polishing rag. What would
he find behind the door?

His brothers and Kathleen ringed the bed like
pallbearers surrounding a coffin, with solemn expressions and
slumped shoulders. Wash bucket within arm
’
s reach, Nell scrubbed hard at the floor.
The unholy scent of blood and cleaning soap cloyed at his nostrils
whilst fear seized his heart.

No one seemed to notice his arrival. Except
for the quiet squish of Nell’s monotonous swabbing, the room was
still. He advanced, dreading what he would find yet knowing all the
same. She is alive. He repeated the words in his head, over and
over, fortifying himself. Were she not, then her essence would no
longer dwell on the astral. He believed that after death, souls
sojourn to either heaven or hell, but even if they did not, he knew
that they left the astral realm.

“Cara?” Her wan visage stood out against the
dark bedding, almost as white as the thick wrapping of gauze and
bandages bound to her wrist with tight-drawn surgeon
’
s tape. He almost didn
’
t recognize her, his Eden. Her
hair fanned the pillow in interlocking ribbons of ink and ash. The
contrast was starker than the dark circles against her porcelain
complexion. Dominic turned his horror on the one person he knew
should have been able to prevent it.

“Ethan?”

His brother met the silent question with
confusion as profound as his own.

“She attempted to harm herself again, did in
fact, within an inch of her life. Took an overdose of laudanum and
then slit her wrist.”

He looked to the taller man at
Ethan
’
s right.
“Stephan…”

The Sphinx spoke with solemn calm. His jaw
set in stone. “I have come to know Eden, and I do not believe that
is what happened.”

“And Cael, what is your opinion?

“I haven’t formulated a precise scenario, but
I agree with Stephan. A second suicide attempt is not consistent
with my assessment of Miss Prescott. She was not despondent in the
least, much less desperate enough to…”

“
Ahem.
Kathleen?
”

Her head snapped around. Dominic knew he
caught the Scotswoman off-guard. He generally made a point of
excluding her in matters he considered family business. Over the
years he had become lax, but never comfortable enough to solicit an
opinion. Of late, her constant presence allowed a certain level of
familiarity even he found surprising.

“I would like to know your mind on the
subject.”

She gave a stiff nod. “Aye, tis
’
something amiss. I donna what,
but tha wee one was no
’
herself. She asked ta see Stephan before I left her alone ta rest.
Was insistent about it, ‘twas as if she had something especially
urgent she wished ta discuss with him. I canna say for sure, but it
strikes me false dat tha lass would knock herself off before
she
’
d done so.
”

“Perhaps, she sent you on a fool
’
s errand, fetching Stephan.” Ethan
suggested. “So she could get at the laudanum in my bag.”

“Naw. I was half out tha door anyways. ‘Twas
my idea dat she should be alone ta rest, ‘specially after dat
ordeal. Tha wee one asked ta see him because she had somethin’ on
her mind. I
’
m sure of
it.”

“Ordeal?” Dominic glanced from face to face,
settling at last on the kneeling maid. “Nell, the floor is clean
enough. Please take yourself off to bed.”

“Yes, sir.” The jittery maid managed to exit
without sloshing too much water over the edge of the swabbing
bucket.

“Now then. Stephan, what
’
s
happened?
”

He didn
’
t hesitate. “She spent several hours locked in the
wine vault last evening. There was no harm done, but she emerged a
bit—”

“Tilted ta tha wind.” Kathleen finished
colorfully.

Dominic tensed, seized by long ago memories
of his own imprisonment. On some level he knew his reaction was
more to his own experiences but he couldn
’
t seem to call back the words or the angry
frustration behind them. “She is precious to me. I entrusted her to
your care, how on earth did she manage to get herself foxed in the
cellar.”

His younger brother did not flinch nor shirk
the accusation. “I protected her as best I could, but you neglected
to mention that we were up against an otherworldly threat.”

Ahhh, now he understood. The imagined entity
again. “She told you about this thing she claims plagues her.”

“You sound as if you doubt of its
existence.”

“I…” Did he? Was he willing to subscribe to
the inane theory of otherworldly evil bent on mischief just to
avoid the realization that he
’
d willfully gotten involved with a woman no more
stable than his long dead mother?

“I sensed it for myself, Dominic. Last night,
after you
’
d gone she
cried out. When I entered the room…” he paused, as if trying to
find the words to explain what he
’
d witnessed.

“What did you see?” Cael prompted.

By now, all eyes were on Stephan.

“I didn
’
t
see
anything. I sensed it, a residual
awareness that comes along with my…gift. A coldness inhabited the
room. The cold shrank away from me as if it were almost…alive.”

“The fireplace was blazing when I left.”

“Yes. I know. The fire was my doing. But
later the hearth was barren, although the room itself did not feel
chilled. Only when I neared her did the cold hit me. It pricked my
skin. I have not your ability to see human souls or sense spirits
in the otherworld, but on my
life
… Eden was not alone in
this room and the thing with her wished her ill. Her hair had
turned thus, as you see it now.”

An awkward silence settled over the foursome.
Dominic took that opportunity to bend and take Eden
’
s bandaged hand lovingly in his.
Pain slashed at him.

“What did you mean, the fire was your doing?”
Cael inquired.

Stephan faced him across the bed, and
gestured eloquently in the direction of the hearth. Crimson-orange
flames roared to life.

“Heavens!”
Kathleen
’
s eyes grew round.

“The fire at the university that razed the
dormitory…” Cael trailed off.

“I thought you couldn
’
t control it.” Ethan mused.

“I usually can
’
t. For whatever reason, I have it more in hand when
Eden is in close proximity.”

“
Fascinating.
” Cael stared at Stephan whilst Ethan’s
and Kathleen
’
s faces
lingered on the hypnotic flames dancing behind the grate.

“Ahem, Ethan.” Dominic cleared his throat and
lay Eden
’
s limp arm back
down on the bed. “You healed her wrist.”

He snapped back to his patient. “Of course,
but the effects of the laudanum I could not counteract. Either she
will come out of it or she won
’
t. There
is
no way to know, but I can tell you this: from my
estimation she downed enough of the stuff to fell a person twice
her size. She lay unconscious there where the maid scrubbed, in a
pool of her own blood. I don
’
t even see how she was able to walk from her
chamber to yours in her condition. By rights she should be dead
twice over.”

Dominic reached down to stroke her two-tone
hair, reverently. “She mustn
’
t be left alone. I want someone sitting with her
until she recovers and is able to provide an explanation…for this
as well.” He let the tresses drift through his fingers.