Abandoned to the Night (The Brotherhood Series, Book 3) (24 page)

“Can you feel any pain at all?” Elliot asked incredulously from the gloomy depths of the hallway. “I daren’t take a step closer.”

“No. I feel nothing.” Alexander nodded to the door. “I’m ready to walk outside.”

Feeling much more confident, Evelyn opened it fully. She stepped over the threshold out into the courtyard. She had expected to see some remnants of the man who had tried to kill them, but she saw nothing other than a faint dusting of ash covering some of the cobblestones.

Holding her hands out in front of her, she said, “Come, my love.”

Sucking in a breath, Alexander stepped forward. He squinted, covered his eyes with his arm. Years spent hiding in the darkness had taken its toll. Evelyn waited to hear a cry, the sizzling of burning skin, but he lowered his arm slowly to expose himself to the harmful rays.

The fear in his eyes quickly changed to excitement, elation.

He raced forward, picked her up and swung her round and round. “Sweet Lord above, I cannot believe it.” His cheers of joy could surely be heard down in the village.

“You’re making me dizzy,” she laughed, gripping him tight.

He lowered her to the ground, his hungry gaze drifting over her face. “It is so good to see the way the sunlight reflects off your hair, to see its warmth illuminate your skin. Are you pleased I am human again?”

Evelyn cupped his cheek. “I just want you to be happy. I just want to love you.” She was aware that their celebrations may cause sadness and regret for Leo and Ivana. “Let us go back inside. Tomorrow, we can spend the day frolicking in the sunshine, but for now, we must think of your brothers.”

His lips thinned and he nodded. “As always, you are right. But just do one thing for me before we go inside, before the sun sets on this glorious day.”

“You know you only need ask me and I would do anything for you.”

“Kiss me, Eve. Let me feel your warm lips, let the sun beat down on us as we celebrate our love.”

A smile touched her lips. She stood on the tips of her toes, brushed his mouth gently, softly. With a groan, Alexander crushed her to his chest, and they were soon lost to the blinding light of their passion.

Chapter 20

Elliot heard Alexander’s jubilant cheers. It gave him hope, a feeling he had not dared let enter his thoughts until now.

Grace raced to the door eager to witness the miracle. “All is well,” she called back over her shoulder, her brilliant smile illuminating her eyes as she hugged the jamb. “He is cured.”

“I understand it must be difficult for you.” He turned to Leo and Ivana, who were his companions in the gloomy shadows. “You could have been human again too.”

Leo shook his head. “I would have it no other way. Of course, if it were possible we would drink the cure without hesitation. But I am elated to hear my brother’s cries of joy when I know he has suffered for so long.”

Elliot put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “As have we all.”

Ivana cuddled into Leo’s chest as he wrapped his arm around her. “I wish there had been enough for all of us,” she said with a sigh. “I wish we could all find a way out of this nightmare. But I, too, take comfort knowing one of us is at peace.”

When Alexander and Evelyn came back through the door, happiness radiated from them bold and bright. Knowing that his brothers could not step forward, Alexander came over to them.

“I cannot thank you enough.” He hugged Leo, kissed him on the cheek ten times or more before bringing Ivana’s hand to his lips and offering a respectful bow.

Amidst their chuckles and expressions of love and gratitude, Elliot glanced at Grace. He knew her well enough to know her weak smile masked a sudden pensive mood. Taking a deep breath, she put her palm to her stomach, nibbled on her bottom lip and observed the merriment like a spectator, not a participant.

“I do not wish to wait any longer,” he suddenly blurted. One way or another, he would ease his wife’s suffering. When her eyes grew wide, he added, “I am more confident after witnessing Alexander’s success.”

He held out his hand, used his ability for mind manipulation to ease Grace’s troubled thoughts for what would hopefully be the last time.

“You’re sure this is what you want to do?” Grace said as her small hand settled into his. “We will still take Christoph home if you’ve changed your mind.”

To be able to walk in the sun with his wife and child, to give Grace the gift of a child of her own, and another one hundred reasons he did not have the time to give thought to, convinced him taking the cure was necessary.

He caressed his wife’s cheek, tried to stop his fingers from trembling when he recalled Alexander’s terrifying cries as the cure destroyed the poison in his blood. “Come the morning I will walk with you in the sun. When we return home, we will promenade in the park. Eat ices to cool our lips. But during the healing process, I ask that you remain in the Great Hall. I ask you to stay up here with Evelyn until Leo sends for you.”

Her bottom lip quivered. “You don’t want me to stay with you?”

“I don’t want you to be frightened.”

Grace shook her head vigorously. “I won’t let you go through this alone.”

Elliot smiled weakly. “I can feel you with me.” He touched his fingers to his heart. “You will always be in here.”

“What if I were the one lying on the cold floor of a crypt, writhing in agony?” Grace said abruptly. “Would you sit in the Great Hall warming yourself by the fire?”

Elliot gripped her hand. “Wolves could not tear me away from you,” he whispered.

Grace gave a curt nod in recognition, pressed her palm against his and wrapped her fingers around tightly. “Then we understand one another.”

They all went down into the chamber, followed the same procedure as before. This time, Ivana had no choice but to stay. Now only two of them had the ability to compel Elliot to sleep.

It felt strange biting into his skin. He had expected the sharp points of his fangs to meet some resistance, like human teeth biting into a tough piece of beef, but they sank into the flesh with ease.

Elliot drank a mouthful of his own tainted blood and swallowed it quickly. He waited the required five minutes before downing the contents of the small brown bottle. The liquid raced down his throat, the sudden sharp pang in his stomach making him jerk.

“What’s happening?” Grace said, her frantic gaze darting over him.

“I can feel it trickling through my veins.” Elliot closed his eyes briefly as the cure spread through his body. His blood bubbled and boiled in response. “I should lie down.”

He did not want them to have to wrestle him to the floor. Shrugging out of his coat and waistcoat, he tugged the shirt from his breeches, fanned the material to cool the burning skin on his chest.

“Shall we compel you to sleep now rather than wait?” Leo asked.

“No. I … I do not want to do anything that might slow down the healing process.” He shuffled on the mattress in a bid to find a more comfortable position. “Just wait a little while longer.”

As soon as the cure reached the tips of his toes, he felt an instant change. The fire heating his body suddenly turned cold. Every muscle grew hard and solid. He felt like a piece of scorching metal pulled fresh from the furnace and then dunked into a vat of ice-cold water. He could almost hear the sizzling as his temperature plummeted.

Perhaps his experience would be different from Alexander’s: less painful, less intense. It was a foolish thought. Within seconds, his body began to burn again. The first few stabbing pains were bearable but soon attacked him until he felt as though he was being beaten and moulded with a blacksmith’s hammer.

He could hear his own cries echoing through the chamber, could feel his friends’ hands on his chest, their muttered words wishing him to sleep.

“It’s taking too long,” Leo barked. “Grace, Alexander, kneel beside us. I know you do not have the ability to enter his thoughts, but your strength and prayers may help.”

Lost in a swirling black mist, Elliot knew the moment Grace placed her hand on his chest. For some unknown reason, it had the power to soothe him, helped him to fight against the poison in his blood. After what seemed like hours, but could have been minutes, he could feel himself being slowly sucked down into the peaceful realms of sleep. Despite his dazed and confused state, he knew there was only one thing left to say.

“I love you, Grace,” he whispered, not knowing if she could hear him as he drifted away.

For a long time, his world felt black: an empty void where he lingered waiting to discover his fate. The first few fragments of dreams were memories of the past: images representing all the licentious things he had done to numb the pain. He suddenly felt guilt and shame, yet at the time he had felt none of those things. Then his world became clearer. Grace entered his field of vision. Like a brilliant star in the night sky, she dazzled him with her magnificence. Where he had once felt cold and alone, he now felt the joy of love and companionship.

“I will never love another, only you.” Grace’s voice touched him, shook him awake. “I will never stop thinking of you.”

He opened his eyes to find her sitting at his side, hugging her knees to her chest as she rocked back and forth. Scanning the chamber, he realised they were alone. His lids felt heavy, and he could not stop them from closing again.

Time passed.

Booted footsteps echoed through the chamber. “Grace. Please, you should come upstairs and rest.” He recognised Leo’s voice. “There is nothing more you can do here.”

“I’ll not leave him.”

Leo sighed. “But it has been three days. You cannot continue like this.”

Three days!

Panic flared. Grace would think the worst. He had to force his eyes open, make her see he still lived and breathed.

“G-grace,” he stuttered, his stiff jaw making it difficult to speak. “Don’t … don’t go.”

He heard their shocked gasps, followed by Leo yelling Ivana to come.

Suddenly the sound of excited voices filled the room. Leo and Ivana knelt by his side, whispered the words to wake him fully from his sleep.

It took no effort to force his eyes open for the second time.

“Tell me you’re well.” Leo patted his chest as he lay on the mattress. “Tell me that the nightmare we’ve lived these last few days is finally over.”

“I am well,” he said weakly. He tried to determine how he truly felt. His mouth was tight and dry as though he had been lying face down on the sand. The painful, hollow feeling in his stomach he recognised to be extreme hunger. With some effort, he managed to sit up. “I am certain the cure was effective,” he added, confident in the knowledge he felt human again.

Grace threw her arms around him. “I thought I had lost you.”

One thing had not changed. All he wanted to do was cover her body with his own and bury himself deep inside the only place he had ever felt truly happy. He kissed her tenderly on the lips, on her cheek, her temple. “I told you, wolves couldn’t tear me away from you.” He ran the tip of his tongue over his upper gums. They felt sore, swollen, yet normal. “What happened to my teeth?”

Leo handed him a pitcher. “We don’t know. We were desperate for a sign to know all was well and when we inspected your mouth your fangs had disappeared. I thought you might have swallowed them.”

“Good Lord, I hope not.” He nodded to the pitcher. “I assume it is safe to drink.” Thirst prevented him from waiting for a response. The water slid easily down his throat, the taste cool and refreshing. He did not retch or splutter. “Did I hear you correctly? Have I been down here for three days?”

A look of grief flashed in Leo’s eyes. “I’d almost given up any hope of you ever waking. We have tried numerous times to rouse you from sleep but to no avail.”

Grace hugged him. “I would never have given up.”

Elliot stroked her hair as he held her close, noted the absence of his other brother. “Is Alexander well?”

Grace looked up into his eyes. “He slept for hours the first night. But he is fully recovered. He is with Evelyn and the children. We didn’t know what to do. I told Ivana to speak to Herr Bruhn, to tell him I wanted to take to Christoph home.”

The mention of the son he had never met caused a mixture of emotions: regret, sorrow, love, hope.

Ivana stepped forward. “I have spoken to Herr Bruhn. He will be sad to see the children leave,” she said solemnly. “But Frau Bruhn is a little better, and he must spend his time caring for her. He is pleased the children will have a family and a home, that their prospects for the future are bright, full of promise. He is aware that life is precarious, that the children must have security. Indeed, Frau Bruhn’s illness has only made him worry for their future.”

Grace smiled. “We have promised that they will write to the Bruhns, keep them informed of their progress.”

Elliot narrowed his gaze, wondering if the cure had affected his hearing. “You said the children. You speak as though they are all coming to England.”

Ivana inclined her head. “They are, with your permission, of course.”

“Oh, the boys were so distraught to hear of Christoph leaving.” Grace spoke so quickly he had trouble keeping up. “I couldn’t leave them behind. Oh, say we will take them all, Elliot.”