Aubreigne hugged him and nodded her understanding.
“And you will stop doubting your worth. You are all you were meant to be and so much more. You are everything, never doubt it,” Amilanu said.
Aubreigne nodded again as Amilanu pulled her into him again. His stomach growled and she untangled herself from his arms and stood swiping her hands over her eyelashes to wipe away the tears. “Let me get you something to eat.”
“Thank you,” he answered, leaning back against the back of the sofa. “I shall wait right here. I’m feeling a little weak, yet.”
“I won’t be long,” she said, already moving toward the kitchen.
Chapter 16
Lily sat on the deck reading as she soaked up the midmorning sun. She loved this quiet time of morning, especially on days when her mother wasn’t teaching, and took the opportunity to have a little quiet time to herself every chance she got.
She lifted her head, raising her eyes from the pages she read when she sensed someone approaching. She wasn’t quite sure who it was, so she tried the little trick that Uncle Lore had taught her. She closed her eyes, and sent out her inner self to get a glimpse of whoever it was she sensed approaching. After only a few seconds her lips turned up in a smile, and she placed her book mark, a bright orange leaf from the dragon tree, on the page she last read and closed the book. By the time she’d walked across the deck and had almost gotten to the railing beside the stairs to look over, the bell was being rung. She smiled again. She loved it when her father’s new friend came to see if he wanted to spend some time with him. Papa got so excited each time he came by. It always made her happy to see her Papa happy.
Lily looked over the railing, already knowing Dima was waiting below.
“Hello, Lily!” he called out in his gruff voice.
“Dima! Good morning,” she answered, smiling brightly at the very hairy male waiting below.
“Morning,” he answered. Then he lifted the cane fishing poles he carried in his left hand. “I was wondering if your Daddy might want to go fishing with me if he’s not busy.”
“Let me call him for you. I’m sure he’d love to go,” Lily said. “Just give me one minute.” She disappeared and Dima looked around the base of the raised home Carnage and his family lived in. It was very well built, kept them safely up off the ground and away from the dampness that often permeated everything in this part of the swamps. The only thing missing was a stream or lake. Something to be able to fish in from the deck.
“Ayyyy!” Carnage called from above, his fanged smile and full lips grinning at Dima from the railing above.
“Carnage!” Dima said, genuinely happy to see his friend. “I’m going fishing. Would you like to come and spend the day? If you don’t have plans with your family that is.”
“’Es!” Carnage answered. “Meenute!” Carnage said, holding up one finger. Carnage hurried back into the house. “Leenah! Deemah feesh,” Carnage said, with a huge smile on his face.
“What about lunch?” Carolena asked.
Carnage chewed on the inside of his lip while he thought about it. He was hungry, and he’d asked her to cook a chicken, and now that it was ready, he was hoping to spend the day with his friend. He liked Dima, and Dima liked him. Neither had ever really had a lot of friends, at least not ones they were comfortable with. They were both familiar with being judged by others simply because of their appearances.
“Eaaat laater?” he asked on a shrug.
Carolena smiled at him. He was so big, so strong and so capable of anything he wanted, yet so much like a small child when it came to the new things in his life, like true friends that wanted nothing from him but to be his friend, and fishing, and horseshoes. He and Dima had a horseshoe game that they played incessantly when they weren't fishing. “I have a better idea,” she said, reaching for the bread and beginning to slice it. “I’ll make you both a picnic lunch to take with you.”
Carnage grinned and stepped close to her to kiss her cheek.
A few minutes later she’d sliced the bread, pulled the meat off the chicken, made half a dozen sandwiches, added in a big hunk of cheddar cheese and a jar of Aubreigne’s fig preserves, a knife to slice the cheese with, a couple of spoons, and handed the basket to Carnage. “Here you go. Ya’ll have fun, and try to be home before dark so I won’t worry.”
Carnage grabbed her and held her in his arms as he kissed her deeply, passionately. “’Lub Leenah,” he said with a rumble.
“I love you, too,” she said, kissing him again.
“I ‘Gol! No warreee,” he said, grinning at her. He tapped her temple trying to tell her not to forget who he was. Carnage feared no one. Quite the contrary, most everything feared Carnage.
“I know you’re a Gargoyle. I do. But, I still worry. I love you, I’ll always worry, no matter how dangerous you are, to me you’ll only ever be my Carnage.”
Carnage grinned at Carolena. “’Arnge keel ev‘ting!” he said chuckling, and slashing his hand through the air, telling her that she shouldn’t worry because he’d kill everything if he had to.
Carolena grinned at him, stepped closer to him and pressed her hand to his cheek. “I love you, and I love to see you happy and making new friends.”
Carnage nodded. “Soooon,” he said.
“Take your time. Boon is supposed to spend the day with Ezekiel, so Lily and I are just going to have a relaxing day here,” Carolena said, smiling as she watched him walk out of the house practically bouncing with every step, his basket of food gripped in one massive hand.
“’Kay,” he said, smiling at Carolena one more time. “Bye, Leelee!” Carnage added as he closed the door behind himself.
“Bye, Papa,” Lily answered.
Lily and Carolena looked at each other and giggled when they heard his voice outside. “Deemah! Eaaat!” he said proudly.
Lily was still giggling when she finally commented. “He gets so excited.”
“He does,” Carolena agreed. “But, imagine spending your whole life with everything and everyone afraid of you. Even the others of your race fear you. A friend that wants only to be your friend is a new thing for him. Dima doesn’t want anything from him, and Carnage knows that. I think that’s why he gets so excited when Dima seeks him out to spend time with. It’s why I get so happy watching him get excited.”
“It must have been really hard for Papa before us,” Lily said. “I forget that sometimes. When I look at him, I just see Papa.”
“It was, but, now he has us, and he knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that he’s loved,” Carolena said with a smile.
“Yeah. I forget just how lucky we are sometimes,” Lily admitted.
“You are very lucky. He’s a wonderful Papa to you both,” Carolena agreed.
~~~
Carnage and Dima spent the better part of an hour walking all the way to the opposite side of Whispers to the inlet that Gaston had built his home on. They sat on the bank beside a now empty picnic basket, watching the corks on their fishing lines bobbing in the water.
“Be sure to thank your mate for the lunch, Carnage. She didn’t have to feed me, too. I appreciate it,” he said.
Carnage nodded. “Feeed ev’bodee,” he said, with a firm nod.
“She’s a good female. Loves you,” Dima stated, while he watched the corks.
“’Es!” Carnage said emphatically.
“I’d like that one day. If I can find a female that would have me,” Dima said.
Carnage pulled his attention from the cork on his line and looked at Dima. He pitched his voice high and imitated the shriek of the Banshee, only not as loud as a real scream. “Screeeeeee!”
Startled, Dima looked at Carnage, then started laughing when he realized Carnage was glaring at him with his eyes widened, and using one hand to pull the skin of his own face down to resemble the melting face of the banshee when she was screaming and haunting. Still chuckling and holding his stomach with one hand because he’d laughed so hard, he shook his h
ead. “No, not Maura. I thought maybe, but she’s not interested. I’ve tried to let her know I care, but nothing ever came of it. We’re friends, though. And I’m okay with that.”
Carnage nodded.
Dima looked over at Carnage again and started laughing thinking of Carnage imitating Maura.
Carnage grinned and just kept fishing.
“I was thinking, though. I’d like to build a house like yours someday, but somewhere near the water so I can get up in the morning and fish off the deck if I want to,” Dima said.
“’Arnge halp!” Carnage said, slapping his own chest, excited to be able to help his friend.
Dima nodded. “When I have a female, then I’ll build it. You can help then. Thank you,” Dima said.
Carnage nodded at first, but then he started shaking his head. “Housh, now,” he said firmly.
“Now?” Dima asked.
“Now! Feeemaale ‘seep?” he asked, lifting one hand in the air palm up. “Feeemaale heere, huh ‘seep?”
Dima thought about what Carnage said. “Ohhh! If I find her, where’s she going to sleep if I don’t already have a place?”
“’Es!” Carnage said.
“Never really thought about it. I would need somewhere for her to be safe,” Dima said.
Carnage nodded.
“I don’t want to be deep in the dark swamp anymore, especially with The Dark One there now.”
Carnage’s forehead wrinkled up and he looked at Dima. “Here?!” Carnage asked.
Dima nodded. “Yes, sometimes. I haven’t seen him, but Brannaugh has. He said that he’s not dangerous to us for now. Said he’s more worried about his own female than us.”
“’Ooo?” Carnage asked.
“The Siren. Aubreigne. Brannaugh has become her friend. He’s been watching over her just to be sure she’s safe, because he knows The Dark One has returned to Whispers.”
“Saafe?” Carnage asked insistently.
Dima nodded. He trusted Brannaugh. He knew Brannaugh didn’t want to have to leave Whispers, and if Brannaugh said he thought The Dark One wasn’t a threat for now, then Dima would believe him. “Brannaugh says he watches him when he visits Aubreigne. The male doesn’t want to be evil anymore.”
“Hmpf,” Carnage snorted, thinking about what he’d learned. His fingers felt a slight tug on his fishing pole and he snapped his attention to the cork bobbing on the water. Only it had been pulled below the surface. “Feesh!” Carnage shouted, getting to his feet.
Dima got up and grabbed the net he’d brought and moved toward the water. “Back up slowly, don’t let him get off the line!”
Carnage backed up, keeping tension on the line where it felt like he had a big fish hooked. Dima waited by the water’s edge, looking down into it, waiting for the first sight of the fish Carnage had caught. “I see him, hold the pole a little higher!” Dima said excitedly.
Carnage did as Dima asked, and lifted the pole higher and took a step back at the same time.
“There he is,” Dima said, stepping into the water and scooping the big fish into the net. “Got him!” Dima said triumphantly, turning toward a happily whooping Carnage, holding the net out so Carnage could see the fish he’d caught.
“Heere,” Carnage said, grinning ear-to-ear as he flipped the top of the picnic basket open for Dima to drop the fish in.
“Dinner!” Dima said. “Carolena will fry it up for you, I’m sure.”
“’Es!” Carnage agreed. Carnage smiled when Dima dropped the fish into his picnic basket, then started shouting and pointing at where they’d just been sitting.
Dima turned around and saw his pole sliding across the grass as it was pulled along and almost into the inlet before he managed to chase it down and grab it.
“Beeg feesh!” Carnage exclaimed, taking up the net that Dima had dropped and walking up to the water’s edge just as Dima had done for him.
An hour later and Carnage and Dima had filled the picnic basket to the point of overflowing with fish.
As they packed up their stuff to go, Dima looked over toward Gaston’s home. They could see it in the distance across the inlet. “I wouldn’t want to be this close to anyone, though. I prefer my privacy,” Dima said. “You know, whenever I do decide to build a house.”
Carnage nodded, looking over toward Gaston’s.
“There’s little bayous shooting off this way and that,” Dima observed, looking far to the left. “I guess I could start looking for a place to build something off one of those bayous.
Carnage nodded. “’Mon,” he said, lifting the picnic basket loaded with fish and starting off down the bank following the curve of the land.
“Where you going?” Dima asked, gathering the fishing poles and his small bag of worms they’d used for bait.
“Find housh,” Carnage said.
Dima shrugged. “Okay,” he agreed. If Carnage wanted to help him find a place to put his house, why not go ahead and start looking. “But I want to be further in, where people won’t find me easily. I want to be secluded like you are.”
“’Kay. ‘Mon,” Carnage answered, looking over his shoulder and waving for Dima to follow.
Three turns to follow smaller bayous that were branching off and taking them deeper into Whispers, they found the perfect spot.
“Here, this is it!” Dima said, looking around.
Carnage stood back and looked. The bayou was shallow enough to use a pirogue to get around, but deep enough to have fish swimming in it. The water was clearer than in the larger bayous that fed into it since the silt had pretty much filtered out before it got here. There were huge old cypress and water oaks on both sides of the bayou, which was about thirty feet across. A lot of the trees had Spanish moss hanging in them, which was commonplace in this part of south Louisiana, which gave that untouched appearance. The land on the side they stood on had a bank that sloped down toward the water, but evened out as the land progressed away from the water and had plenty of space to build. They could easily place a house here, it would be hidden well, even from anyone accidentally happening upon it, and they could put the deck on the back that would allow Dima to fish from his home if he wanted to.
“I think this is the perfect place. And, I think it’s closer to your house, too. Won’t take me so long to get there,” Dima said. “Or, you to here,” he amended.
“Goood howsh,” Carnage said, nodding his approval as he looked around.
“So, we just cut down trees and start building?” Dima asked. “Seems like I should ask first. What if somebody else has claimed this spot already?”
“Trawl,” Carnage said.
“I didn’t ask for permission to be here at all, though. He might not allow me to move this far in,” Dima said. “I don’t want any trouble. You think it would cause trouble to ask?” Dima asked.
Carnage shook his head, then he put down the basket of fish and walked over to one of the trees. He grabbed a low hanging branch and started breaking it free. Once he separated it from the tree, he took out a hunting knife and began to sharpen the end of it.
“What are you doing?” Dima asked.
Carnage didn’t answer, just kept working. A few minutes later he grinned and handed the pointed branch, which was about six feet long to Dima. “Eew housh,” Carnage said, pointing from the ground to the branch and back again.
Dima smiled, his fangs showing through. “Mark the land as mine for my house?” he asked.
Carnage smiled and nodded.
Dima walked around a bit until he found just the right spot and then he drove the branch into the ground, using the end Carnage had sharpened to drive it in deep enough that it wouldn’t fall over.
“S’irt,” Carnage said, reaching for the buttons of Dima’s shirt.
Dima swatted his hands away, not wanting to take off his shirt. Not many had seen him without clothing since he’d made his presence known in Whispers. His body was covered in hair, so thick it looked like fur.
“Tiiie,” Carnage s
aid, pointing toward the branch.
“Tie my shirt to it?” Dima asked.
“’Es,” Carnage said firmly.
“But then I won’t have anything to cover the hair,” Dima admitted quietly.
It was unnerving for Carnage to see such a big, strong, honestly scary male wanting to hide his own body. Carnage couldn’t understand why he was ashamed of his fur. It’s who he was. And the moment that thought passed through Carnage’s mind, he realized he did understand. He’d avoided anyone he’d have to interact with for a long time because he didn’t want to see them afraid of him, and he didn’t want to watch them struggle to understand when he was unable to speak like they were. It was one reason he’d battled so fiercely and moved up the ranks among his own kind. He’d felt a need to prove himself. Until Carolena. Carolena had made everything okay when it was clear to him that she loved him because of exactly who he was.
“Goood Deemah,” Carnage said, gesturing to the shirt again.
Dima hesitated, but eventually took off the shirt and tied it to the branch they’d driven into the ground to mark this place as his.
Carnage gave a single nod. “Goood!” he said, then picked up the fish basket and started walking.
“Where are we going now?” Dima asked, gathering the fishing poles and catching up with Carnage.
“Trawl,” Carnage said, still looking straight ahead.
Dima looked down at his upper body, large, muscular, covered in dark brown hair, and inhaled deeply, resigning himself to the fact that if he wanted to claim that spot, he’d have to talk to Enthrall, and he’d needed to leave his shirt behind so that if Enthrall wanted to find it to ensure he could have it, he’d have no problem identifying it. “Fine. But I wish I had my shirt.”
Carnage looked over at Dima. He gave a sly smile, then reached out and pulled on a handful of dark brown fur like hair. “P’etty,” he said, winking at Dima.
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