wrath of the Sea Queen (197 page)

Suddenly, from the tub beside her, the man in black
emerged
and reached out to strike C
a
eli so
fast
that she wasn't able to make a move to defend herself.  It
lasted only
a second, though to her it seemed as if the world were moving in slow motion.  Two of his long fingernails stabbed through the front of her robe,
piercing
directly into one of he
r
existing
wou
nds
.  C
a
eli was too stunned even to cry out. 
T
hen the man
vanished
as
quickly and
mysteriously as he
ha
d
appeared. 

C
a
eli
looked down a
t
two small, dark stains forming on her robe where his
dagger-like
finger
nails
punctured
the skin beneath
.  Now why would he do that
?
S
he asked herself
the question
as if she were a third party observing the sight from a distance.  Seeing the stains, C
a
eli
immediately thought about her baby.  No!  Not again, she thought as she rapidly
reached over and turned on the water in the sink
.  H
olding
her hand beneath the steady flow
, s
he concentrated
on
stop
ping
the bleeding as
fast
as she could.

"
I won't let you hurt him, too.
"

"
Salma, I need your help.
"

She also wanted
to prevent
Vin
from seeing
the
damage
.  H
e would blame himself
for leaving her unprotected
.  She
refused to place
yet another
burden on
him.  Instead, C
a
eli used her gift to heal as much of the new wound as she could before
Vin
returned.

Outside the bathroom, Vin expected to find the man still pinned to the wall. 
He
was
not there.  Vin looked around the room, but there was no trace of the
stranger
coming or going.  He
simply
vanished.  Vin was not only angry at the intrusion, but also at himself for falling asleep.  C
a
eli trusted him, but because he fell asleep, something
had
happened to her.  Then this man showed up, obviously trying to reach C
a
eli.

"
C
a
eli!  Oh, geez!
"
  Her
cautionary
words now registered in his head, and Vin r
ushed
back into the
bath
room, pulling her into the security of his embrace
, not having
a chance to see the front of her robe.

"
Honey! 
Are you ok?  I'm sorry.  I
a
m so sorry
that
I
fell asleep
.
"
  Vin hugged
C
a
eli
tight, afraid to let her go.

"
It's ok, Vin.
  He didn't
do much
…
"

"
No, it's far from ok. 
Rika
got to you
again
, didn't she?  Even in normal water?  And w
ho was that man, C
a
eli?  You
clearly recognized
him.  Is he the one who did this to you?  It was
incredibly bold of him to show up here
.  Don't worry.  I
wi
ll catch him this time
. 
He won't get far. 
I'm going after him
as soon as Ben gets here.
"
  It was obvious
to Vin
that C
a
eli knew and was scared of the man.  Vin's
unfettered anger
stirred through the air.

"
You won't find him.  He's
already
gone.  Nothing you
could have done
would
have made
any difference,
"
C
a
eli informed
Vin
quietly.

"
Made a difference in what?  Did something happen after I left you?  C
a
eli, was he in here with you?
"
  Vin quickly understood the implication in her statement.

"Yes, briefly.
  He came through…
"

There was a pounding on the
ir
door
accompanied by
Ben
shouting for
them. 
C
a
eli
was grateful for the interruption.  She did not want to answer the question Vin would have asked next. 
Vin left C
a
eli to stand there a moment and hurried to unlock the door before Ben
broke
it down.

Ben rushed in with
Salma protectively in tow. 
Aware of
an
immediate threat, Ben would not leave her unattended. 
Vin was surprised to see
Salma holding Max
’s hand
.

"
It's ok, Ben.  He's gone.  I don't know where he came from or where he went, but I'm pretty sure that C
a
eli does.  Oh, crap!
"

Vin ran back to the
bath
room a second time.  C
a
eli wait
ed
near the door. 

"
C
a
eli,
I'm back.  Let me help…
"
  Vin moved to pick her up.

"
Stop,
Vin.
"
  C
a
eli's voice insiste
d
as she interrupted him
.

"
I just want to take you out to the other room...
"
 

"
Close the door.  Forget about that man.  I will tell you about him in a minute.  First, I want to show you something.
"

Vin did as she asked.  Her assertiveness
only
barely
restrain
ed
Vin's
need to go running off in search of the intruder. 

"
What is it, C
a
eli?
"
  Vin asked anxiously.

"
I noticed how you couldn't stand to look at my
injuries
earlier. 
So,
I tried
to use my gift while I was in the
tub
,
and
I succeeded
. 
Salma was right. 
The water was very good for me, at first.  It worked wonders.  Most of the bruises are gone; the injuries are mostly healed.  Look!
"
  She began to open he
r
robe so that Vin could see the
change
, but he put his hands over hers and held them, stopping her.

"
C
a
eli, I was not turning away from the sight of you.  I would never do that. 
You
'
re beautiful. 
I was turning
away because seeing
how badly you were hurt
made me angry at the person
responsible
.  I didn
'
t want you to see that anger and think I was mad at you
or blamed you in any way.  You're carrying enough unfounded guilt
.  That
's
why I turned away.  I'm sorry I made you think otherwise.  I love you.
"
  He pu
lled her close and kissed her.

C
a
eli smiled up at him, shamefully regretting her misinterpretation.  She should have known better.  It must be this whole situation. 
It had her
too mixed up to think clearly.

"
Vin, I still want to show you the results.  Look!
"

This time, he
permitted
her
to
hold the robe open. 
What he saw within stirred a strong response in Vin. 
Sure enough,
nearly
all of the bruises were gone.  Most of the smaller cuts and scrapes
had
disappeared
.  The three large gashes
o
n her left side were still there
, but
already
healing
nicely
.  There were two places in particular that still looked pretty raw
.  There was even a bit of blood
, but
C
a
eli
appeared to be
well on her way to
a full recovery
.