Aubreigne smiled as Amilanu became more amorous. She trusted him completely and did exactly as he asked.
Amilanu leaned toward her, causing her to lean back on the sofa as he came down on top of her. He kissed her, his tongue forcing its way inside her mouth as he held her down. At first she kissed him back, allowing him to suck her tongue until she realized his hands were everywhere, tearing her clothing, shoving her skirt up to her waist as he plunged his hand between her legs with a growl.
“Stop!” Aubreigne screamed, fighting him as well as she could.
“You wanted my attentions, little Siren, now you have them. Has no one ever told you not to tempt the beast?” a voice similar to Amilanu’s answered just as he stripped her shirt away and sucked her breast into his mouth, biting down on her tender flesh.
“Leave me!” Aubreigne shouted, as her skin began to redden and her hair began to come to life, flitting about with a life of its own. “You are not Amilanu!” she exclaimed, fighting him, scratching, clawing, using her legs to shove him away from her.
“Hold still, wench!” he demanded, grabbing her by the throat when she would have slid from beneath him and run from his grasp. Only he underestimated Aubreigne. His hands where they touched her seared and blistered as he screamed in pain. The winds whipping through her home lifted him and threw him against the wall.
“Leave my home!” she demanded, then she began to sing her siren’s song. The same song that bent him to her will each and every time she’d encountered him.
“You are not welcome here! Go!” she shouted as she paused in her song before continuing it again.
The Dark One raged as he glared at his hands, blistered and swollen. “I will destroy you!” he snarled.
Aubreigne didn’t answer, she continued to sing as tears coursed down her face. One moment she was sitting quietly, loving the male she sat beside, the next she was banishing him from her home, blistering his hands to the point that the flesh may very well die and peel from his bones.
“You will pay for this!” The Dark One bellowed, forcing himself through the winds that kept him pressed to the wall.
Aubreigne sang louder, and he slammed his burned hands to his ears to try to drown her out, then screamed in agony as he snatched his hands from his ears and held them out in front of him to better see the damage done to them. Then just as suddenly as he’d appeared, he seemed to struggle as though something was holding him in its grasp. He was shouting, growling and grunting as he threw his shoulders this way and that and shook his head violently.
Then as Aubreigne watched, Amilanu’s eyes locked with hers. The anguish on his face at the sight of her torn clothes was clearly seen. “I have to take us away. I cannot allow you to be injured,” he said in a cracking voice.
The Dark One roared his fury and Amilanu was no longer looking at her. The eyes were red now, and he was on the move again. Aubreigne took a deep breath and began her song again, louder and stronger than she’d ever sung it. Then with only a flicker of light, a slight movement that might not have even been noticed by most, The Dark One, forced away by her beloved Amilanu, disappeared before her eyes.
Aubreigne dropped to her knees and sobbed.
~~~
As Enthrall ghosted toward Aubreigne’s home, he sent out a message to Lore. The Dark One is here.
Lore wasted no time in tracking Enthrall’s location and misting into being right beside him in Aubreigne’s front yard. When he materialized, he found Enthrall with his brow furrowed, standing at her door with his ear to the door.
“What is it we listen for?” Lore whispered directly in Enthrall’s ear.
Enthrall jumped and snarled at Lore. “Can you not do that?” he snapped.
Lore shrugged. “You called me!”
“The Dark One is here,” Enthrall said.
“That’s what you said. Why are we standing outside Aubreigne’s home listening at her door?” Lore asked.
“Can you not hear her?” Enthrall asked in response.
Lore canted his head to the side and concentrated. Then he heard it — deep, soul-shaken sobs. Lore met Enthrall’s eyes and gave a single nod.
Enthrall pursed his lips and looked Lore in the eye. “Come. Be ready. I do not know what we’ll find.”
They both materialized in Aubreigne’s living room to find her collapsed on the living room floor, her body wracked with uncontrollable sobbing. She was either completely unaware of them, or didn’t care at all that they were there.
“Aubreigne,” Enthrall said, stepping toward her.
Aubreigne just kept crying and sobbing.
“I’m going to check the rest of the house,” Lore said.
Enthrall heard his footsteps leaving the living room, but didn’t turn to look. Enthrall knelt down beside Aubreigne, and very gently reached out toward her. “Aubreigne, we are here. Tell me what I can do.”
Aubreigne raised her tear stained face to Enthrall’s and simply looked at him, as her face was contorted with her pain and heartbreak.
It was then that he realized her clothing was torn and hanging from her body. He held his arms out, not sure that she’d even come to him. But she did. She fell into his arms and started a whole new round of tears.
Enthrall lifted her in his arms and turned to find Lore coming back into the living room.
“There’s no one else here,” Lore said.
“We need a female,” Enthrall answered.
Lore wrinkled his forehead in confusion.
“Her clothing is torn. She needs the assistance of another female,” Enthrall explained without going into too much more detail. He wasn’t actually sure of what happened here, and he prayed he was wrong, but the circumstances didn’t look good.
“I’ll go for Evangeline. She can still calm as well as before,” Lore said.
Enthrall nodded and immediately began to try to soothe Aubreigne, whispering to her that all would be well.
Only a moment after Lore left, the front door was thrown open and Brannaugh stood there with Rune. He saw Aubreigne in Enthrall’s arms sobbing, and wasted no time getting to them. “I should have been here!” he insisted.
Enthrall regarded Brannaugh over Aubreigne’s head where he was steadily shushing and soothing.
Rune was circling Enthrall, looking up at Aubreigne alternately growling and whining.
“Why should you have been here?” Enthrall asked, not understanding his statement.
“I’ve been keeping watch. I should have known better than to leave her here without Rune. The wolf showed up and was playing with several pups we’ve domesticated. I didn’t think much of it, until he suddenly took off at a run, headed back here. I accompanied, afraid of what we’d find.”
“Why would you keep watch over a female that isn’t yours?” Enthrall asked.
Brannaugh weighed the question Enthrall asked, and decided honesty was best. “She is my friend. And The Dark One is hers. He’s returned, but he was different. Aubreigne has been able to speak with him. He’s not been violent or volatile. He’s not been evil. He’s been as normal as you and I,” Brannaugh finished.
Enthrall gave a slight shake of his head as he quirked a smile. To refer to either himself or Brannaugh as normal was certainly not something that was done or even thought of being done on a daily basis. “You should have told me. I should have been aware,” Enthrall said flatly, letting Brannaugh know he was not happy that this information was withheld from him.
A purple and silver mist began to filter into the room, then both Brannaugh and Enthrall watched as Lore and Evangeline materialized before them.
Evangeline went to Aubreigne immediately. “Aubreigne,” Evangeline said, speaking softly and laying her hands on Aubreigne’s arms.
Aubreigne turned her head to look at Evangeline. They clasped hands, and Evangeline began to speak again. “It’s going to be okay. No matter what happened, we’re going to help you through it. Alright? You won’t have to face anything alone.”
/> “Come, let’s sit for a while,” Enthrall said, walking toward the sofa. The moment his body rested on the sofa, Aubreigne realized where she was. She started twisting and turning trying to get away from the sofa. “No! I don’t want to sit there. I never want to sit there again. I can’t,” she cried. “I just can’t.”
Rune snarled and attacked the sofa, ripping one of the cushions, which had Lore giggling.
“Lore!” Evangeline snapped.
Lore looked at Evangeline.
“Shh!” she insisted, placing a finger before her lips.
“Do not shush me,” Lore said, looking at Evangeline incredulously.
“Stop laughing,” Evangeline stressed.
Rune shook the cushion in his mouth until fluff was floating around them all, then he dropped it and went for another cushion.
“But it’s funny! The wolf is killing the sofa because he thinks it hurt his mistress,” Lore explained.
Enthrall watched the wolf tearing apart the sofa one cushion at a time, then he turned his attention to Aubreigne. “If you want that sofa at all, you better say so soon.”
Aubreigne sniffled and lifted her head to look at Rune. Her faithful friend had understood that being on the piece of furniture upset her, so, he was killing it. Aubreigne took in the white fluff that was scattered about the room. She looked around at those surrounding her. Her eyes met those of Brannaugh, then Lore, Evangeline and finally Enthrall. Her hand smoothed across the shreds of her shirt as she made a valiant effort to hold its pieces together while she tried to gain control of herself.
“Rune, no,” she finally managed.
Rune immediately stopped killing the sofa.
“I don’t want the sofa. It’s where… I was sitting…” she tried to explain.
“It’s okay. I understand. We’ll move it out. Tell me what you want and we’ll do it,” Enthrall said, now standing in the middle of her living room and holding her in his arms.
Aubreigne shook her head as fresh tears, though this time silent, began to course down her cheeks.
“Tell me how to help you, Aubreigne. I need to know what happened, and I need to know how to help you,” Enthrall insisted.
“How about a bath?” Evangeline suggested.
Aubreigne swung her attention to Evangeline. Rapidly she nodded. “Yes. A bath,” Aubreigne agreed.
“Can you walk there?” Evangeline asked.
Aubreigne nodded. She moved to have Enthrall put her down, and he complied. “You’re sure you can walk to the bathroom?” he asked.
Aubreigne nodded and reached out, holding onto her shredded clothing with one hand and Evangeline with the other as they began to leave the living room.
“We will be right here,” Enthrall assured her.
Aubreigne nodded as they made their way from the living room to the bathroom.
“If you need anything, just let us know,” Enthrall added.
Aubreigne paused outside the bathroom and looked back at Enthrall who stood in the middle of her living room. “I need Amilanu.” She offered no other explanation, didn’t wait to see what Enthrall’s response was, just walked into the bathroom and Evangeline followed her in, closing the door behind them.
A moment later the door opened again when Rune threw a fit because he wasn't allowed in the bathroom. The women let him enter, and the door was closed once more.
Enthrall turned on Brannaugh. “Tell me what you know. And follow that up with an explanation of why you didn’t bother to advise me that The Dark One was back in Whispers!”
Brannaugh’s attention snapped from the closed door down the hallway where Aubreigne and Evangeline had disappeared to Enthrall. “I’ve been watching over her. It wasn’t necessary for you to know.”
“You did a bangup job of that, didn’t you?” Enthrall snapped.
“I thought she was safe. Rune was out running and was not the least bit upset. If he’d have felt the need he’d have been here with Aubreigne. I knew The Dark One was here, but I also knew that he’d been different each time he’d been here recently. He wasn’t rampaging, or inflicting chaos. He simply wanted to provide for his mate. He watched over her. He even saved the wolf and sent him to watch over Aubreigne.”
“I’m sure he didn’t save him alone. The Dark One cannot give life,” Enthrall said.
“The wolf was dying. The Dark One was trying to save him. In exchange the wolf was to befriend Aubreigne and protect her, even from The Dark One himself if necessary,” Brannaugh explained.
“How would you know this?” Enthrall asked.
Before Brannaugh admitted that he’d helped save Rune, Lore spoke up. “He’s fey. They talk to all the things,” Lore said, fluttering his hand about to encompass ‘all the things’.
“I’m aware of his nature,” Enthrall said flatly.
“Then why do you ask what you already know?” Lore asked.
Enthrall pinched the brow just above his nose. “Why did I call you?” he murmured.
“Because you…” Lore started to answer.
“It was a rhetorical question, Lore,” Enthrall said forcefully, returning his attention to Brannaugh.
Brannaugh dropped all pretense of self-preservation. “Look, I knew I should have told you, but it truly didn’t seem necessary. He’d only been here for a day or two, and she was spending time with him. Aubreigne was happy. And he was not the same male we all have come to expect over the last several years. And shouldn’t you have sensed him regardless of what I did or didn’t tell you?”
“I can sense when the barrier is penetrated. I cannot always identify who penetrated it. I learned of you and your growing number of friends after investigating the breaches I felt. I watched all of you. Once I determined you only wanted what we all do, I left you alone to determine for yourself when you came to me to ask for sanctuary. You are not children and do not need to be constantly monitored. As long as you didn’t break our rules, or cause any harm, there was not a reason to force you to leave.
When the barrier was broken by what I assumed was The Dark One, I searched, I tracked. Others helped as well, but we were never able to locate him. We knew someone, something was here, but assumed if it was The Dark One, sinister happenings would abound. There were none, other than food and supplies going missing from time to time,” Enthrall explained.
“I should have told you. If you wish to force me out because of it, I will comply with your wishes, but do not punish the others who seek shelter in the dark swamp because of my decisions,” Brannaugh said, standing tall, his chin raised.
Enthrall watched Brannaugh deliver his simple plea for those he watched over in his own little section of Whispers. The darkest part of the swamps, the part that no one ever ventured into. This male had a tendency toward all things dark. But he’d made an effort to change his life, and the lives of those he’d decided wanted more for themselves. Those that decided they wanted peace. “I don’t wish you to leave. I simply need to be kept up to date on occurrences in Whispers. Even if it’s entirely possible I already know, assume I don’t. Whispers is growing, changing. There are those who prefer to stay hidden away from me, and as I said, as long as they abide by my rules that’s fine. But I need your assistance, because they seem to honor you where they shy away from me. Let us work together to keep Whispers strong,” Enthrall finished.
Brannaugh’s eyebrows shot up high on his forehead. “You wish me to help you with Whispers?” he asked.
“I do. Destroy helps as well. Between the three of us, surely we can do a better job of serving all our people, than I can alone,” Enthrall answered.
Brannaugh thought about it, then slowly began to nod his head. “Yes. Yes, I believe you’re right. I will help you.”
“Excellent,” Lore said. “Now that all the diplomacy is done, can we determine what is to be done for Aubreigne before she returns to this very room and we are no further than we were when she left it?”
“She wants Amilanu. Amilanu is trapped inside his
body with The Dark One. We cannot save him. All we can do is wait until she is finished with her bath and hope that she’s composed enough to tell us what has happened, and what she needs that we are able to provide,” Enthrall answered.
Chapter 19
Aubreigne sat in a warm bath, her knees brought up against her chest, her arms hugging her knees while she listened to Evangeline softly humming some unknown, yet very comforting melody.
After some time spent in her own head, Aubreigne finally raised her eyes to Evangeline’s who sat on the floor beside the bathtub. “What is that melody?” Aubreigne asked.
Evangeline smiled brightly. “It’s a song I remember from before I came to live here. My sisters and I always sang it. It never fails to comfort,” Evangeline answered.
Aubreigne simply nodded and offered a half smile.
“Do you like it? Shall I continue?” Evangeline asked.
Aubreigne nodded.
Right away Evangeline began the soothing melody again.
“He didn’t mean to hurt me, you know,” Aubreigne finally said.
“The Dark One?” Evangeline asked.
Aubreigne shook her head. “Amilanu.”
“Who is Amilanu?”
There was a significant pause before finally Aubreigne answered. “Amilanu is my male. He’s my mate.”
“I thought The Dark One attacked you,” Evangeline said.
“He did. But Amilanu was trying to stop him. Just before he forced The Dark One away, I saw his eyes, I saw his face. I know it was him who saved me. The Dark One became too strong before Amilanu was aware.”
“Where did Amilanu go?” Evangeline asked.
Aubreigne shrugged. “I don’t know where he is now.”
“Where is The Dark One?”
“Inside Amilanu,” Aubreigne answered before the tears began to slip silently down her face again.
“Tell me how I can help. Did he… hurt you? Force you?” Evangeline asked. “There are herbs that can help with the injury, and the pain. I’m sure you know of them. There are even some that can be sure that pregnancy doesn’t happen.”
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