Dominic's Nemesis

by D. Alyce Domain

  “Ethan and Cael will be close at hand. And I have also asked Stephan to watch over you. Please do not be frightened of him. Stephan is—”

  “The Sphinx does not scare me. He’s a lamb in wolf’s clothing.” She snapped, again stalking to and fro. “Odd to be sure, but not frightening. It’s…”

  Panic seized her, stopped her dead in her tracks. Her fears must have showed because he was at her side in an instant, pulling her flush with his hard, masculine strength. “What? Tell me, Eden.”

  She lifted her face to his. “Dom, what if it comes back? The evil thing. Or the visions.”

  He exhaled. “The visions are of real people, real events. Cael showed me your drawings. The woman and her infant are dead now, but they lived on this estate before I acquired it from her widower. She drowned trying to save her child who had fallen in the marsh.”

  She gestured the issue aside. “Yes, yes, Atherton explained all that. But the entity, do you still think I imagined it?”

  Anguished, he stared down at her. “I…I…Cael seems to think there is an explanation other than insanity and I am happy to embrace his theory over mine.”

  “That does not answer my question, Dominic.”

  “We will confront this issue when I return.” He tightened his hold on her when she tried to recoil out of his hold. She glared up to find pewter-sapphire sparks exploding with intensity. “No. Hear me, cara, and heed my words. I will attend to Gabriel for as long as he requires me. Do not assume that means that you can escape me. Why do you believe I can be without you so easily? That I’d choose to leave when there was any other option. I want to have you right now, beneath me, here on the floor of your chamber without preamble. Do you require proof, then? Shall I strip your clothes off, spread your legs and sink myself into your body to ease the ache I feel. Does the image frighten you, cara? It does me. I wonder…would you let me take you that way?”

  “Yes, Dom…” She tilted heavily against him. The curious dampness plagued her drawers once again. Was it depraved to be aroused by such rough talk…to give herself to him in whatever way he wished despite Kathleen’s warning, and the inevitable outcome?

  Her breath hitched when his hand snaked out to grasp hers and brought it to his trouser front. He hissed through his teeth when she closed her fingers around him. His other hand cupped the nape of her neck. “You will sleep in my bed until I return. At night, I will come to you as often as I can. If I don’t find you there, I will shimmer to wherever you are and the devil take who sees me. Do you understand me, Eden?”

  She could do nothing but nod and accept the searing kiss he blazed on her mouth an instant later.

  Chapter 27

  His brother’s essence shone strong, but the sharpness of the edges and the over-bright current swirling in the center denoted no small amount of distress. Not only that, Dom saw a minute difference in Gabriel’s essence. Impossible, yet undeniable. A new element existed.

  As he suspected, Gideon hovered nearby, his distress less obvious. Dominic stepped from the astral and into the corporeal world. He knew immediately that the room in which he stood belonged to one of the over fifty boasted by his childhood home, an unwanted legacy his by birthright, the Castello di Ambrosi.

  The exaggerated surroundings reminded him of scenery in a stage drama. Simple paintings wouldn’t do, the walls writhed with gilt murals of great and tragic events. The mile-high ceiling was cluttered with mosaic frescos. Gideon, at six-four, leaned against the lip of the fireplace that stood tall enough for him to walk into without stooping. Windows stretched from floor to ceiling. His twin Gabriel lay in a canopied bed fit for the Almighty himself, complete with wine-red drapery of the finest textured satin. The Prescotts of London, who took gaudy elegance to new heights, would be jealous. The only thing out of place was the makeshift cot in the opposite corner of the room.

  “It’s good to see you, Dominic…all of you.” The taller man inclined a brow at him.

  “Likewise.” He turned from Gideon and approached the bed. “How is he? Any change?”

  “No.” Gideon came around to the opposite side of the bed. “At night he sleeps in the normal way, except for the nightmare. The same one repeats every night. Always, at dawn he becomes like this. Trapped in a waking dream. Eyes open, but sightless, lifeless. His chest moves, but that is the only proof that he lives. Feeding him is a chore. I can manage to get him to swallow only if I pinch off his nose.”

  “Aww, Muse, I should have known I would find you here.” Dominic spared the Himalayan feline a brief smile as he bent to stroke the opulent silver-grey fur where it lay flush with his brother’s corded olive skin. Muse trilled, and then redirected soulful azures back to nuzzle her head beneath her master’s limp hand. “How long?”

  “A fortnight.” Gideon was the worse for wear. Chaotic blue-black locks much like his own, shadowy jaw, and a suit that looked more slept on than the over-plush bedcovers that lay sprayed out over his comatose mirror image.

  “Have you tried to arouse him?”

  “With every technique I can think of. Buckets of water, hot wax, smelling salts. I’ve even been at him with a needle. Nothing.”

  “The dreams have always disturbed him, but this…” Dom trailed off, lifting his eyes to catch the troubled expression across the great divide of the bed. “Has this…happened before?”

  “A few times, but it only lasted an hour or so, and only after an especially vivid dream…most had to do with violent events.”

  “He is distressed for sure.” Dominic nodded. “His essence practically vibrates. But what do you think he’s seeing? What could put him in such a state?”

  “I have thought about it.” Gideon glanced down at his twin’s sightless stare. “The only event that comes to mind is…my death.”

  “No.” He recoiled from the idea, even as the word shot from his mouth. When his brother looked back up at him, Dominic backed away from what he saw. Gideon’s intense slate grey gaze held neither fear nor defiance, no preference for life over death…only concern for his twin. “No, Gideon.”

  “That is the real reason I summoned you here. If I am right, you’ll need to take care of Gabriel…after.” Gideon followed him. “I have already begun to put my affairs in order. We, by we I mean you, the true Conte Ambrosi, must also be prepared to take your place as the head of the family. I realize that it will be difficult and I would have been more than willing to take on the burden instead, but—”

  The sight of his brother’s expressionless acceptance fueled an increasing panic in Dom. “I don’t want to hear this. I won’t have it!” He shook his head, and pivoted to take full strides for the window. Gideon followed. “Gabriel is wrong this time.”

  “When has Gabriel ever been wrong? Was he wrong about our mother?”

  The rawness of the words chafed his heart.

  “Tell me, Dom, was he wrong about Stephan?”

  His head snapped around. “He saw…”

  “Stephan’s ability is quite extraordinary. Would you like to know the nature of it? By the by, you should talk to Cael. His headaches are worsening and more frequent than he’s let on.” Gideon continued, bearing down on him, driving a knife through his heart. His eyes like cold marcasite crystals, glittering in the sunlight that leached through the grand cathedral windows. He didn’t walk, no, his looming form glided across the floor with predatory elegance. “Oh, congratulate Ethan for us. Tell him he can stop worrying, Kathleen will make it through the birth just fine. Would you like to know the gender of the child?”

  For a moment, a split second, anxiety played havoc with his mind. He saw Lillian stalking towards him, relentless, remorseless…her dark beauty more frightening than death itself. The twins resembled their mother the most. Particularly Gideon when he bowed to fatalism and macabre tactics. His short, coiffed locks morphed into Rapunzel-length vines. His grey orbs darkened to soulless black holes. The angular planes of his face softened to creamy cheeks, a serpentine smile slithered acros
s her lips…

  “Stop it!”

  Even his voice somehow lifted from bass to contralto. “Your woman. She is exquisite, Dominic, if a bit reedy. Both Gabriel and I were pleasantly surprised.”

  “Gideon, please, no more…do you want me lying on that bed beside Gabriel?”

  At last he stopped, coming to stand behind him, compassion melted he stony gaze to a warm smoky gray. “Forgive me, but I do not fear it and neither should you. Death is a natural part of life. Come, if talking about my passing makes you this uncomfortable we can put it off a day or so, but I warn you, we’ll have to discuss it soon. Tell me about her. Surely it is she who has wrought the changes I see in you. I had thought you would bring her along.”

  The vice around his throat loosened when Gideon clapped him on the back and propelled him towards a matched pair of throne-esque chairs separated by a claw-foot marble table.

  “Bring Eden here? And have Nonna and the aunts rake her across the coals while the servants use her for gossip fodder? Hell no.”

  * * *

  Hundreds of miles away, Eden gazed unseeing out the drawing room window at a day so dreary it almost rivaled the gloom hanging over her heart. Fat raindrops splattered like tears against the glass. The menacing billows overhead emptied their contents on the land in a mad rage, obscuring the landscape but for the occasional dagger of lightening. After an hour, she ceased to start at the crackles of thunder that preceded each flash bolt.

  “Do you intend to mope around for the whole of his absence?”

  She abandoned her vigil at the window to find the Sphinx, awaiting an answer to his riddle. Her mood did not make for good conversation but she didn’t have the heart to request to be left alone. He’d come looking for her. Perhaps wishing to continue with the book they’d begun, though she did not spy it in his hand.

  “Maybe.” She shrugged, an edgy apathy to her words. “I only recently gave up suicide, you know.”

  Warm amber crinkled at the corners as they would if he’d smile, only his lips remained uncurved. “Death would not become you.”

  She hardly needed reminding that her skin shone pale as a corpse. With her natural thinness and white-blonde hair, if she skipped even one meal she tended to resemble just that. “Have you come to suggest a diverting occupation, then?”

  “If you like.”

  He came forward to sit across from her on a silly-looking chaise, made even more ridiculous by the intense gentleman adorning it. The carved wood feet seemed to shrink in shame at being upstaged in both import and interest.

  “What shall it be then…The pianoforte? Reading in the library? Surely not brandy over a game of whist?”

  “In a mood, I see.” His expression said that he could relate. She even detected a note of enjoyment in his voice. “I am at your service.”

  “I played twenty questions with your brother.” She challenged, determined to provoke a glimpse beneath the old world gentleman persona he choose to don.

  “Dominic? Playing a game? Not likely.”

  “Atherton.” She corrected. “You first.”

  He leaned forward, an assessing look in his eyes. “Why are you so phobic about my brother’s absence?”

  She sighed at the question. Not surprising. “I miss him.” She admitted, which was true enough.

  “This melancholy of yours goes beyond yearning for a lover.”

  Eden’s eyes bucked. Her first thought was that Dominic had told him, but she quickly discarded that notion. “Can you read minds? Is that your gift?”

  “Dominic is very forthcoming, I see.” No gasp or owlish look of surprise from the Sphinx. He merely acknowledged a fact. “Mine is a curse, not a gift.”

  “But did you read my mind?” She persisted.

  “No. You did not answer my question, Eden. Dominic’s absence, why does it affect you so?”

  She shrugged, allowing her eyes to wonder around the room before they came to rest again on him. “I should think it rather obvious. You’re his brother. Your place in his life and his affection is secure. Me, I could be tossed out with the garbage at the slightest provocation. What if this Gideon character does not approve? Dominic holds him and the other one in great esteem…certainly greater than whatever he feels for me.”

  “You have nothing to fear.”

  Her expression became incredulous. “You say that with such finality. Dominic and Dr. Raine both think I am a Bedlamite-in-the-making.”

  “If Ethan gave you that impression it was accidental, I’m sure. He favors you for a sister-in-law and he would not be above matchmaking to accomplish it. A blind man could see that Dominic wants you…and has clearly had you. He would not take a madwoman to bed.”

  “But how do you know.” She insisted, desperate to believe him.

  “Because before he left he charged me with the duty of protecting his woman. He said nothing of his house, his lands, his accounts; he merely wanted you to be safe. It was not difficult to see that his attachment is profound. Dominic wouldn’t have spilled the family secret unless he already considered you to be part of the family. Trust me, there is nothing to fear.”

  Some of her anxiety abated. With its loss came more curiosity about the man before her. She tilted her head to the side, and studied him. “I want to see what haunts you.”

  His eyes shuttered at the request, and he leaned away from her. “I don’t know if I can limit it to a small display, even with you here.”

  Confusion swelled. “What does my being here have to do with anything?”

  He was no longer an old world gentleman; the enigmatic sphinx stared back at her. This time she did not flinch or avoid the burning-amber scrutiny.

  “Try not to blink your eyes.” He inclined his head at her answering frown. “Go on, try.”

  She took a deep breath and met his, determined hazel focused and ready. Ten seconds later, she blinked. But he never wavered, holding her in a blink-less trance for what seemed like days. When graceful mahogany lashes at last swooped elegantly downward, she exhaled a sigh she didn’t realize she was holding.

  “Not as easy as it seems, is it? You have to concentrate every second because the instant your mind wanders impulse takes over. And you blink. Or suppose you don’t forget. Eventually the impulse to blink becomes so strong that it overrides your willpower to resist it.” He reached out, took her hand and deftly arranged her fingers to resemble a revolver pointed at him.

  “Now, imagine you have a pistol in your hand, finger twitching at the trigger. And every time you forget or succumb to the impulse to blink, it fires…hitting any luckless soul who happens to be in your line of sight. Bam!”

  She jumped when a particularly loud clap of thunder punctuated his last word. The shawl slipped from her shoulders, and she dropped the ‘pistol’ in her hand. His eyes immediately focused on her exposed throat and remained there a beat longer than she was comfortable with. It took her a moment to regain her composure, even after he spoke and broke the spell.

  “That is what my gift is like. I’m not sure why, or even how, but your presence has a dampening effect. Makes it less of an effort to deaden the impulse.” He paused, amber glistening. “Still want to witness my curse, Eden?”

  “Yes.” The word came out a breathless murmur. He’d meant to frighten her she suspected, but his little demonstration intrigued her all the more.

  Chapter 28

  Dom exited from invisibility as soon as the door closed behind the chambermaid who came to change the dingy linens.

  “How long are you staying?” Gideon inquired.

  “Had circumstances permitted, I would have arrived with all the necessary pomp and circumstance of a carriage, rumpled traveling clothes, and miles of luggage to occupy a multitude of fawning footman.”

  “All acquired in the village after you’d shimmered, no doubt.”

  He’d had to alter his original plans. Eden could not endure a long absence and Dom found neither could he. “It will be a strain, but my visit nee
ds to be kept covert. I cannot tarry long and I’ll need to astral in and out. If Nonna and the aunts get a whiff, I’ll be trapped in the castle for a fortnight or more…and they’ll be no opportunity to astral.”

  Gideon motioned toward the still figure on the bed. “Gabriel is no different today than yesterday.”

  “Yes.” He drawled out. “I’ve been thinking of…taking him into the astral realm. The shock of having whatever he’s feeling intensified tenfold may jolt him awake. It’s drastic, I admit.”

  “Could work.”

  “You’ll have to restrain Muse.” Dom eyed the clingy feline atop his brother’s chest. Her furry head rested on her paws as if she too were holding a vigil.

  “Of course.” Gideon bent to retrieve the cat. Muse moaned her displeasure and attempted to burrow even closer. He had to dislodge each claw from both the counterpane and the linen nightshirt. She wailed an almost human cry at the separation, and seemed to Dom to cling to Gideon as would a ship captain’s wife at the docks on the day of her husband’s maiden voyage.

  Dominic shook his head, “That cat is over-indulged.”

  “Gabriel denies her nothing.” He cradled the anxious feline in the crook of his elbow and stroked the silver-grey mane, all the while cooing reassurance and soft endearments.

  “Just Gabriel?” Dominic quipped, even as he flipped back the covers and hoisted his brother’s inert body off the bed. Though the twins had a good two inches on him, Dominic’s frame was the studier and boasted greater muscle mass. It took a bit of maneuvering, but he achieved a serviceable grasp to support the dead weight. A moment later, he shimmered.

  The essence intermingled with his was all shakes and shudders, with jagged edges that flashed blinding lights and shades. Emotions magnified to nightmarish intensity. The anomaly Dominic had noticed before was no longer visible…in Gabriel’s essence. But an identical anomaly now existed in Gideon’s. The shock of seeing the appendage-like glitch transferred from one twin to the other distracted him. He’d meant to flash in and out on the same breath. But his loss of focus stayed him an extra second or two.