by annie nadine
“Annie, you should stay here forever,” Eli said, his eyes closed and head resting against the bed. She laughed at his silliness in such a serious situation.
“Eli, there are more pressing matters to attend to,” she said through a strained voice.
She decided just to grab one side of the jacket with two hands and pull as hard as she could. She managed to get the coat out but the quick release made her stumble back and fall off the bed. Leaving the jacket on the floor she jumped up again to get back to work.
“Why did you have to wear every piece of clothing known to man?” She whispered her complaint as she measured the rest of her task. Her hair fell onto her face and she wiped it away with the back of her hand where it wasn’t stained with blood.
“There does not seem to be a pressing matter as prominent as you anymore,” he slurred his words a little. She ignored him as she unbuttoned his shirt. She pulled it open easily and carefully dragged his arms out of the sleeves once again. She managed to pull his shirt out from under him much easier than his jacket, this time only falling back onto the mattress not completely off the bed. She threw his blood-drenched shirt on the ground and inspected her next mission. Blood covered his bare chest and she wasn’t sure where the injury was located. Garrick ran in with the cloths and hot water.
“Here.” He passed them to her.
“Do you have the pain relief?” She asked as she took the items from him.
“Uh…no.” He quickly ran out the door to collect some, closing it behind him. Eli began to laugh.
“What are you laughing at?” Annie asked as she wet one of the cloths and started to wipe away the blood.
“He never has been good at dealing with this.” Eli kept his eyes closed.
“You have been this way before?” She asked as she continued her task.
“Many times sweet Annie.” He was starting to sound drunk.
“And how did you come to be in this predicament?” The blood was wiping clear and she found where the wound was, just below his left shoulder. It had already stopped bleeding and didn’t look as bad as she thought it would. In fact, it looked as if he had been stabbed by something but the skin was already closing up.
“Did you know your last name means ‘beautiful’ in French?” He prattled nonsensically. “Which is an understatement!” Annie laughed at his words. She had seen her father drunk and heard the ridiculous things he had said and Eli’s demeanour reminded her of that. Not that Eli was drunk but his pain seemed to be eliciting a similar response.
As she finished wiping the blood away he was left bare-chested. His body was flawless and had defined muscle that covered every inch of it. His arms looked ridiculously strong even as they lay limp beside him. She had not seen a man shirtless before but she was sure this was not a common occurrence. Most of the men she saw had fat bellies that could not be hidden with any amount of clothing. She couldn’t help but reach out and touch his skin with her fingertips. It was beyond spectacular. Even in a weakened state he was solid and tempting.
Annie looked up to find Eli’s eyes on her. She was glad the light was dim in his room because she was blushing from head to foot. She went to move her hand away but he grabbed it before she could get too far. Her hand was pinned between his chest and hand. Suddenly it had turned from a situation where she had the control to one where she had lost all of it. Somehow he managed to pull himself up and he pulled her closer to him. He drew her in so close that he pulled her onto his lap and it made her feel nervous, in a good way.
“What are you doing?” She whispered, their faces just inches apart.
“I seem to be feeling much better,” he said as he watched her, desire obvious in his face.
“Your wound…it looks almost…healed?” She said with confusion and shock in her voice. He pulled her even closer still and she felt his need for her. How was he so strong when he had just been so feeble?
“I am a fast healer.” He whispered the words into her mouth and it seemed to fill her with his craving.
She forgot every other thought other than the sudden need to kiss him. He kept one hand around her waist and used the other to run across the skin of her neck and down to her chest. When she didn’t protest he slowly started to slip his hand down her loose top. Her breathing became deeper and her chest rose and fell as his hand drifted along her skin. Just before he reached his desired destination there was a knock at the door. Startled, Annie began to move away but he held her so she couldn’t.
“I am much better Garrick. Just let me rest for the time being,” Eli called out, never taking his eyes off Annie.
“Would you like the pain relief?” Garrick’s voice was slightly muffled through the door.
“No, thank you. It seems I will not be in need of it,” he replied impatiently. After a few heartbeats Eli heard Garrick leave.
“I think it best if I go,” Annie said breathlessly.
“Please, Annie,” Eli almost pleaded.
“You are hurt.” How could she even be doing this? This wasn’t like her at all!
“I am not hurt anymore.” He reluctantly moved his hand away from her chest, took one of her hands and pushed it hard against his injury. She looked at it in disbelief, it looked even more improved than before.
“What are you?” She pulled her hand away from him, looking almost fearful that she would catch whatever it was the healed him. He looked a little hurt from her words.
“I am someone who wants you.” She looked to him and could see the seriousness in his eyes.
“You do not even know me.” There was part of her that wanted to run away but somewhere deep inside she wanted to do much more than kiss him.
“I do, you are good. You are exceptional. You make me want to forget everything I know.” He pulled her closer and it made her forget some of her reservations. She leaned her hands against his chest to try and put distance between them but all it did was distract her. Eli leaned in to kiss her and she didn’t move. As his warm lips drew closer to hers she wasn’t sure what she wanted.
Before she had to make a choice the windows burst open and the cold wind ran through the room. They both shot their head around to the sudden interruption and the moment was broken for Annie. She moved off him, relieved that she had been saved from doing something she might regret and he went to close the window. When he turned back around she was gone.
Annie ran to her room. As soon as she made it there she hurried in frantically, closing and locking the door behind her. She did it mostly to restrain herself rather than keep Eli out, she hadn’t known him very long but she knew he would never hurt her like that. She backed into the room, avoiding touching anything because his blood was still on her hands. She bumped into something and turned to see what it was.
Baden stood there and she jumped in fright from the shock. From what she could see, the look on his face was one of anger. He looked down at her hands and took one by the wrist a little roughly. He pulled her closer and inspected her with his eyes.
“It was so kind of you to help the ailing Eli,” he said sarcastically. He waited for her to say something. How had he known? How had he even gotten back into her room? What she didn’t know was that he had thrown the window in Eli’s room open and interrupted their moment.
“He was hurt,” she said avoiding saying anything that might reveal their intimate moment. Why did she feel guilty for it?
“You certainly assisted him out of his agony,” he remarked accusingly. She tried to pull her hand away but he tightened his grip, not enough to hurt her just enough to stop her.
“I did not intend for that to happen,” she defended herself seeing no use in pretending he didn’t know. “How do you know?”
“Some things you just acquire a sense for.” He sounded disgusted.
“Nothing happened!” She said panicked, not wanting him to think what he was thinking. He let go of her wrist and it felt cold without his touch. She let her hand drop to her side and she just stood there w
ishing she could make him understand.
“Did you want it to?” He shocked her by asking.
He stepped so close he was against her and he used her hips to ease her closer to him. She let her hands drop behind her because they were messed with blood but it didn’t stop her heart from picking up and her breathing to stagger. Her face was in line with his chest and she couldn’t help but wonder what he might look like with his shirt off.
“No,” she whispered. Baden stared at her seeing the truth.
After hesitating a moment he let her go and stepped away. He could see in Annie’s soul that she was confused about it all and that she had made the choice to not take her relationship with Eli any further. She had only been acting out of her natural attraction to someone and it made him jealous, though he had no right to be because she wasn’t his. And he knew she never should be.
“You should want him. He could give you what you need,” he said, almost sounding defeated. He started to back away.
“Please stay,” she asked but he was already out the window. She ran and looked out over the grounds but she couldn’t see him. With a heavy heart she closed the window as best she could with her messed hands.
She looked over to her nightstand and there was a wash cloth and a bowl of water, Garrick had obviously anticipated her need for it. She washed as best she could and changed into a clean nightdress. She started to realise she had no idea about life and especially the part of her life that involved men. Her life had been so simple a week ago and now it was more complicated that she could understand. Giving up she went to bed and tried to push everything out of her mind. The only problem was Baden was permanently etched in there.
CHAPTER 9
Annie woke the next day dreading having to see Eli. Maybe he wouldn’t remember last night? Who was she kidding, of course he would. He would remember how she left him there without an explanation. But why did she owe him one?
After it all became too much she thought it would be best if she just faced her problem head on. She got dressed in one of her casual, leaf-green dresses and tied her hair back into a braid. She made her way downstairs to find Eli but the house was vacant of everyone.
“Is anyone there?” She called through the emptiness as she stood at the bottom of the stairs. When no one responded she walked through the house. She started downstairs in the kitchen then went to the parlour. When they came up empty she went to every other room on the first floor. No one could be found.
There was one door she hadn’t looked in. For some reason she hesitated before she entered. It felt like a personal room, though why she thought that was beyond her. The door was closed and she had never seen into the room before. Deciding there was no reasoning behind her hesitation she opened the door and went in. It was a library. She almost laughed to herself when she saw the tall walls lined with endless books.
A huge, intricately designed carpet covered most of the floor, with gold and browns running through it. An enormous window sat at the far side and was the length of the entire wall. A large, dark wooden desk was placed in front of it with papers neatly stacked on top and a comfortable looking chair sitting behind. It looked like Eli’s coat was hanging on the back of the large, leather chair. A few reading chairs and even a day bed were placed throughout the room, giving a welcoming feel to the atmosphere. The day bed looked enticing, with its red, velvety material and gold cushions.
Annie had always loved books and dreamed of having a library as big as this so she moved over to inspect the collection. There had to be easily at least a thousand books on just one wall covered with the shelves, which would mean thousands of books altogether.
As she scanned the books there were ones that looked old and worn and others new. Some covered topics from various centuries of history but most of them were about myths and legends through time. She came across one with a strange title: Methods of the Soul Snatcher.
For one reason or another she found the title intriguing so she picked it up and took it to the day bed. As she walked she tripped over her own two feet and dropped the book, she tried to recover it but she missed. To her relief it landed on the seat she was heading to, which was the day bed. She picked the book up but had noticed that it made a strange sound when it had hit the cushions. It made a thud which would mean there was something hard underneath. She looked around to see if anyone was coming. Should she look?
Before she thought about whether or not it was morally right to snoop through a man’s belongings who had taken her in when she had nowhere else to go, she bent down and inspected the settee. Under the cushions there looked to be a thin, wooden plank, as if it was the lid to a chest. The cushions were stuck to the top so she couldn’t move them to get a better look. Maybe she could open it? Again, ignoring her conscience, with book in hand she lifted the lid.
The cushions didn’t fall as they were stuck to the lid. Inside the secret case was lined with a dark, velvet material. It had grooves dug out to fit its contents perfectly. Immaculate daggers lay vertically, lined across the length of the bed. There were ten of them. Annie thought back to the writing device Eli had when he interviewed her, what had he called it…chromium? It seemed that the handle had been fashioned from the same metal but the blade was entirely different. In fact it looked like the blade was made from…polished bone.
The blade was sleek and thick and subtly curved into a sharp point. Somehow it had been polished so it looked almost reflective but you could still see natural ridges running along it. The handle was just short enough for a hand to grip but still rather elegant, with four strips of the metal twisted softly around the air to meet at the top. It was lovely how it twisted so you could actually see through the handle. The spires jutting out at the base of the handle were the same as the other one just shorter. All together it was a stylish design and the most unique thing about the objects was they seemed to be almost luminous.
The instruments were crafted to perfection which made them look menacing and all together frightening. Surely there could only be one use for them.
A creak in the floor boards brought her out of her inspection and she brusquely turned to see what made the noise. Eli stood at the door witnessing her intrusive act. She jumped up and dropped the book accidentally. It made a loud thump in unison with the bang of the wooden lid closing. The book sprawled open until it settled on a random page on the floor. Annie’s heart raced as she tried to think of what this person had done with the ominous looking weapons.
“I wandered in here looking for you and…” She faltered. And what? Got to snooping through all of your things and possibly found evidence to support allegations I might make of you being a murderer? Eli stood there with a stern face, as if he had so much anger he was frozen. She swallowed hard and tried to find something to busy her hands with. When she found nothing, she nervously fiddled with the material of her skirt.
Eli remained silent and the tension in the room grew until it was palpable. Finally he unfroze but the relief Annie felt from his movements was soon overshadowed with fear as he slowly closed the door and locked it. The sound of the latch clicking sounded like the gavel of a guillotine. He turned and faced her.
“Who are you, Annie?” He asked keeping his tone even but menacing. She placed her hand against her chest, shocked at his question.
“I? Who am I?” She asked. “Who are you?” She chided. He started walking towards her and she moved back. With each step he took she tried to take two but he seemed to be gaining on her. She made it behind the desk and he stopped when he reached the day bed she had been standing at. He opened the lid and looked in for a moment before he let the lid drop, then he picked the book up from the ground. He looked closely at the title.
“Soul snatchers interest you, do they?” He asked bringing his eyes back to her.
“The fact that I am unaware of what it is indicates that I would have to disagree,” she reasoned. She had no idea how she was being so brave, this person could be a psychopath and she
was locked in a room alone with him. From her experience he was incredibly strong and fast which made this whole situation worse for her.
Eli placed the book down on the seat and started towards her again. Annie braced herself and started to slowly move around the desk. Eli ran after her and she sprinted for the door but he was too fast and cut across the room, catching her easily. He grabbed her around the waist and pushed her against the shelves, being careful not to harm her. He used his body to hold her against the shelves then grabbed her wrists and held her arms above her head. Annie was panting from the effort and he was completely fine.
