by T D Raufson
“Mel, what is this that I hear about your father? Why was he excluded from his mother’s will?”
The big family secret was now out.
“Nick, I’m not going over this with you right now. I have things to do and I’m tired. Thanks for coming to the funeral, but I have a great deal of things that remain to be done. Not everything was all wrapped up when she died.”
Melissa caught herself before she gave away the secret her grandmother had just entrusted to her. The look in Nicklaus’ eyes made her wonder if he already knew. The hairs all over her body seemed to stand up with his reaction, and she felt a little creepy.
The door swung open again, and Charles stepped past Nicklaus to take a position between them.
“Miss, I’m sorry. The staff is not sure how you want visitors handled tonight. I’ll see Master Nicklaus back out. I’m sure he was not aware that you were busy. Master Nicklaus.” The imposing figure motioned gently with his hand toward the front of the house. Nicklaus did not move but looked at Melissa.
“Show him to the Parlor, Charles.” She visibly shrugged at the responsibility she knew was not leaving. “I need to see to this before I get back to what I was working on.”
“Yes, Miss, but those items need to be dealt with.”
“Know your place, Charles,” Nicklaus snapped. “She is aware of her duties.”
“Of course, sir, I meant no disrespect. This way please.”
Nicklaus turned to head toward the parlor at the front of the house with a pious air.
“Charles.”
“Yes, Miss?”
“Make sure he stays in the parlor. I’m going to change.”
“You know, I can send him away if you’re too busy.” His eyes crossed to the box on the desk.
“No, I should see him, and I just can’t face this right now.” She pushed at the box again. “He was here for the funeral and was nice enough to leave then. He has heard the news and has been with my father since the meeting was over. He’s all excited. If I don’t see him tonight, he’ll be back first thing in the morning, anyway. Give me a few minutes to prepare for my betrothed, won’t you?”
“Miss, I believe the journal is far more important than meeting with Master Nicklaus.”
She felt the anger cross her face and controlled her reaction. There was no reason to be angry; he was just doing his job. “Perhaps, but it can’t be avoided.” His common frown deepened for an instant, but he bowed as his training required and exited the library.
She unhooked the gold chain that held the amulet, slipped the key to the box onto it and put them both around her neck. She needed to get away from the stress she had inherited. She wanted this day to end more now than ever before. She needed a break already.
Over the next fifteen minutes she took her time changing from the little-black-dress she had worn to the funeral just to irritate her mother. It had worked. She would hear about that in the morning, but there was always something. Melissa could not be around her mother without somehow disappointing her; why should today be any different?
Melissa decided a pair of comfortable sweats would make the meeting easier. She wrapped a formal receiving robe around them just to avoid offending Nicklaus and checked her image in the full-length mirror. Her black hair fell along the back of the scarlet robe to her waist. Satisfied with her appearance, she started down the stairs as the clock announced the bottom quarter-hour. Behind her, the more horizontal rays of the sun were streaming in through the second floor windows of the library.
Nicklaus’ raised voice assaulted her as she walked down the front stairs to the parlor.
Charles was standing in front of the one exit from the parlor with his arms crossed across his chest. Nicklaus stood beyond the door, blocked by tradition and honor more than by Charles.
“I have never been refused the right to use this house as if it were my own. The former owner afforded me the respect equal to my position.”
He could consider the act an insult if he wanted, but Melissa didn’t really care. It was her house now. She would decide who could roam its halls, and it was better to keep Nicklaus off balance, but Charles did deserve a break. She walked up behind him.
“What seems to be the problem, Charles?”
“No problem, Miss.”
“Very well, you may go now,” she said, walking past his bulk in the door and entering the parlor. “Okay Nick, What’s on your mind?”
The young man’s attitude changed immediately. He stood a bit straighter and pushed back his shoulders. “Well, you’ve settled in very nicely, Mel.”
“Please don’t call me that.”
“I’m sorry, but I believe my relationship accords me some latitude. I am to be your husband, after all.”
For a moment she gave him the smile he expected.
“By that awful arrangement, yes you are.” She dropped her smile and replaced it with a face she had learned from her grandmother. “But I warn you, take no liberties. I’m doing all I can to void the Schwendemann Kellmunz arrangement,” she answered very matter-of-factly and walked past him to stand in front of her chair.
“Why fight it, cousin? It’s the way of our ancestors. We must keep the line pure. We’re royalty, and we’ll soon return to the old country and free it from those who took it from us.”
“Please. I’ve heard that from my father since I was a child. After millions of dollars and years, He’s no closer to accomplishing it. What makes you think you will?”
Nicklaus smiled. Something in his smile gave Melissa a chill.
“I can feel it, Mel. It’s time, and if you think about it you do too.”
Melissa rolled her eyes at both the fascination that Nick shared with her father and grandfather and the honorific he had inherited from them.
“Two generations have fought that battle. Don’t you think it’s time to put it down?”
“You dare mock me! I’m the next in line.” His voice rose with true royal indignation. The only thing missing from his reaction was the woman he wanted to add to punctuate it.
“After my father, yes, but he’s still alive which keeps the royal line here for now. That’s the whole reason you and I are betrothed, cousin.”
“True, but that’s no reason to give up on our ancestry.”
“I’ve not given up on it. I remember it daily as my grandmother did.”
Nicklaus recognized the dangerous ground he was on and took a moment before he continued.
“No one questions her contribution, Mel. Her books put our little country back on the map. I’m not sure publishing historical romances about dragons and kings in our dark history was the only way to do that, but her contribution is appreciated. I’m talking about getting the land back; recovering our birthright; taking back what has been stripped from us for centuries. What do you intend to do to help with that?”
Melisa felt a sudden surge of vertigo and stumbled into the wingback chair behind her.
Had his eyes flashed or was that some artifact of the charged encounter?
Recovering control by grabbing the armrest and slipping into the chair as smoothly as she could, Melissa hoped she had disguised her sudden weakness.
What was he talking about? It had been generations since their almost country had been swallowed into the redrawn maps of Europe. Swabia had fallen apart over centuries of dukes and counts who failed to bring it together to form a single unified nation. None of the powers, including the United Nations, had recognized their claims so far. He, along with every male of the royal line, was losing his mind. Her grandmother had told her about the plan that they passed from father to son, how much it had already cost all of the families and what she thought of it.
“I’m too tired to argue with you Nick. I know you didn’t come here to talk about our history or wedding plans. What do you want?”
She punctuated her query by flopping against the chair back and looking up at him. She hoped the act covered her dizziness, which was not going away. Now
, there was a buzzing in her ears.
He paused a moment before continuing, again smiling. He drew his hand over his face. For an instant, she thought she saw fatigue but she could not be sure.
“I wanted to ask you some questions, about your grandmother. Before she died, did she talk to you about any deadlines?”
“No, she was sick before she died. I hadn’t seen her for a while. I was away, at school, so were you. When I did see her last, she talked about parties and people she remembered and went on about a particular ball when she was a child.” The only deadline her grandmother had ever discussed with her had been in writing just before he had arrived, so to deny it was not a lie. Reminded of the deadline, she looked up at the calendar on the wall. It was too far away to make out.
“Odd, was she working on another book? You of all people would know what she was working on.”
“I’m not sure… Why? She was always writing something.”
The dizziness was making it hard to think. Her skin itched with a prickling irritation, and the fine hairs on her arm were standing up. She resisted scratching.
“She was asking a lot of questions about some very old texts my father kept in the library at home,” he pressed. “She borrowed them and I wanted to make sure they made it back to the library. With all that’s happened things can get lost, you know.”
“I’ll make sure you get them back as soon as I can finish a quick inventory. I have no idea what all is here. I expect most of the family will want to pick through it. Anyway, questions about what?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
Nick sat down in the chair in front of hers. A deeper flash of vertigo rushed over her as he sat down. She looked away as her mind filled with an image of an ancient castle. She could see it as if she was hovering over it. Along the battlements, dragons stood with their wings folded back looking down into the valley around the castle. It reminded her of the painting on the ceiling in the library. Fire ran down her arms, legs, and spine. An uncontrollable shiver ran through her body. When she looked up at Nick, he was grinning back at her. The clock in the hall sang the hour with nine clear rings. Somehow, each chime made him look happier.
“Look, Nick, I’m really tired tonight. Can we talk about this tomorrow?”
“She seemed pretty insistent. She said it was important. If I could just look at what she was working on I think I could help.”
Each sentence was an attack to her focus. Melissa resisted shaking her head at his request.
“I’m not even sure what she was working on yet. I need some time to review it. I’ll know more in a few days, but not tonight.”
She stood from the chair and walked toward the door leading out of the parlor, fighting vertigo with every step.
“I think it would be best if you left tonight. I need to get some rest. Today has really worn me down. Would you mind?”
“I can’t leave now, Mel. I need to see the journal,” he snapped.
A stronger wave of vertigo nearly dropped her to her knees. She could see that this wave affected Nicklaus as well. His eyes flashed red. This time his reaction was clear, and he did nothing to hide it. He bared his teeth at her and growled.
Fear slammed into her already shaken mind, and she could not help the look of surprise that crossed her face. How could he know about the journal?
“Charles, get in here! I need you!”
Her skin prickled and fire ran down her limbs again; it was all she could do to remain standing. The amulet around her neck seemed to vibrate, and Nicklaus fell away from her as if an invisible hand pushed him. He braced against the hearth and grinned.
Across the foyer behind her, a door leading to the dining room swung open and Charles rushed across the tiled floor. All hints of the gentle butler were gone as the fast-moving tackle rushed past her into the parlor.
“Holy—what the hell’s going on?” Charles shouted as he crossed the last few steps to grab Nicklaus as he was stepping toward Melissa. He wrapped his arms around the smaller man and pulled him away from the door. “I’ve got this, miss. May I suggest you retire to the library or your room?”
“Yes, of course.”
Even in her addled state, she knew the journal had to be protected.
“Make sure he is shown off the property and tell the gate no one is to be allowed in tonight. No exceptions.”
“I can’t let you do this Melissa. Your grandmother is wrong. What she’s asking you to do will enslave us, again.”
Nicklaus’ eyes pleaded with her. He was not resisting Charles who was holding him in place in front of the fireplace, but something in Nicklaus’ eyes scared her.
“Don’t do what she’s asked you to do. We have to be allowed to reclaim the power we’ve lost.”
His face changed again. She saw it coming and opened her mouth to warn Charles, but never got the words out. He must have expected something because he turned his hip as Nicklaus drove his elbows into Charles’ side. The power in his strike was unnatural and more than Melissa had ever seen in the small man. His eyes suddenly glowed brighter.
Distracted by the attack and Nicklaus’ unexplained strength, Charles lost his grip and stumbled back against the hearth. Nicklaus pushed off and rushed at her. Vertigo enshrouded her and Melissa’s feet twined together as she turned away from him. She stumbled into the doorframe, trying to escape. Against the wall, she gained some control and pushed off and around the doorframe into the foyer. The safety of the library was only a few feet down the hallway, but she could feel him behind her. She swore his hands were hovering above her shoulders. She risked a look back as she turned toward the back of the house.
Nicklaus, tripped up by Charles, slammed into the wall and doorframe, splintering the wood and spraying the hallway with chunks of plaster. The force of the strike spun him around into the front door barely missing her as she ran out of his reach. The impact with the wall should have stopped him, but he was pushing against the front door to come after her.
She couldn’t stop the scream that escaped as he continued to chase after her. Watching over her shoulder, Melissa ran faster through the library door toward the back of the house. There was no way the two way door would hold up against his strength, but she had to secure the journal and figure out what was going on. Just as the door was closing behind her, she caught a glimpse of Charles slamming into Nicklaus in a classic football tackle and driving him across the foyer out of view.
The noise of their scuffle drove her past the desk where she grabbed the box and turned toward the French doors. Charles’ cry of pain alarmed her and drove her to the doors. She hoped Charles could stop him, but knew in her heart that this was not the end of her flight.
The deadbolt stopped her, and she fumbled with it. Her fingers knotted, and she cried out in frustration before the lock yielded. Throwing open the doors, she raced out of the house and into the twilight of the back lawn. At the foot of the stairs, a crash of glass caused her to look back again as Nicklaus tore through the back doors. Distracted, she tripped on a root and sprawled across the rough ground.
As she fell, she released the locked box and brought her hands up to protect herself. Without looking, she sensed Nicklaus on top of her. She rolled over looking into his crazed eyes.
As he fell upon her, his chest felt jagged against her soft flesh. He was stronger than she ever remembered. His hands were reaching for her neck, and panic shot through her as she realized he intended to kill her. She closed her eyes.
Helpless in his grasp, she knew she could not surrender. Instinctively, she reached for the talisman at her neck. His rough hands closed around her throat. She opened her eyes to look into menacing, glowing orbs. Fire ran through her hand, and the stones in the pendant flashed.
Nicklaus stopped. Surprise filled his eyes as an invisible force slammed into his chest and threw him off of her and across the yard.
He crashed into the stone wall of the mansion and then dropped onto the steps with a
loud thump, like a rag doll cast aside by an angry child. He stayed where he landed.
Fire raced up her arms, and a spike of pain exploded in her head. Her vision blurred with the pain and she clenched her eyes shut. A vision of a massive black dragon flashed into her mind as the pain blossomed in her skull. When her mind cleared, she could suddenly hear the katydids in the woods around her and the crunch of glass under Charles’ feet.
Melissa opened her eyes, sat up, and stared at Nicklaus where he lay as Charles limped onto the porch. His left arm hung at his side, and blood streamed down his face from a bad gash on his head.
“Get to the overlook,” he ordered, “I’m right behind you. Don’t wait for me. Run. Stay on the path, it’s safer.”
Calm control emanated from him. He looked at the limp form on the steps and shook his head.
“This is about that box?” He pointed at it and looked at her.
She stood up and looked toward the overlook nodding her head.
“Go on, then. I’ll be right behind you.”
Melissa hesitated.
He looked up at her as he grabbed Nicklaus under the arm and hoisted him onto his shoulder. He pointed at the overlook and turned his back on her.
She collected the box and ran down the path to the overlook. When she was on the stone floor of the overlook, she turned back. Charles was on his way down the path. She looked at him with the question she wanted to ask on her face.
“Yes, he’s still alive. I locked him in the pool shed. It won’t hold him, but it will slow him down. He won’t know where we are in a minute anyway.”
Charles looked her over professionally as he reached the stone circle at the edge of the yard. She suddenly felt like a little girl who had fallen in the back yard. Charles reminded her of his father, and she took some comfort from that strength.
