by Candace Sams
“Why, yes…it will,” Momma agreed.
Both girls quickly ushered their mother out the front door so she didn’t have time to look in the office and see the gruesome scene there.
The girls must have realized what happened to their older sister. They were trying to help him. In that way, some of Sarah still lived on. He began to see the strength she’d instilled in his younger siblings.
He must get them to safety. Away from police interrogations, for as long as possible.
With all the internal fortitude he could muster, he strode down the stairs, grabbed the office doorknob and would have closed it. That’s when he saw the heavy bronze bust of Dante lying on the floor. That was the bludgeon that was probably used on his sister. It was a menacing looking art piece that Sarah had always found ugly. Indeed, its having been used against his beloved sibling bolstered his resolve.
“Hide if you want to, you bastard. You’re not getting away with this!” he promised.
With grim determination, he closed the office door. Then, he went out on the porch, and walked with his mother and sisters.
Chapter 9
Mac hated what he’d heard. Every syllable and comma of it.
He’d stood there listening to the end of a family, the imminent end of an island way of life, and the horrors a daughter had suffered through the brutality of a father.
Frankie was shaking so hard, tears ran down her face to the point that he was sure she couldn’t see. In that moment, he knew he’d never meet such a woman again. She’d stood her ground. Now, she would stand it again. He saw the courageous woman she must have been. Very few females of that time would have stood up to their father. He prayed very few fathers would have responded so violently.
What could he say? What words were there for such a moment? He had no training or experience to help in this situation. None.
“Scotty,” she whispered, “the girls and Mother…they got off the island?”
Mac lowered his head in shame. Even now, after all these years, she was still hoping her family hadn’t suffered that catastrophe. All her concern was for them, not herself.
Scott’s face was a mask of pain. For a moment, he looked away. Then, he faced her again.
“No, Sarah. They didn’t make it.”
“B-But your story…you said you took them to the train,” she responded.
“I did. We were early, for the first run of the day. I paid for tickets, then I arranged for money to be available at a hotel, at the other end of the line. I asked Momma if she’d be all right there, with the twins. She said yes. I told her that I’d join her on the mainland as soon as I could get there. I told her to wait for me on the mainland. Not to move from the hotel there, until I arrived. I explained in detail, over and over. She said she understood. I knew she was in shock. I shouldn’t have left her and the twins alone. That’s on me. My leaving them there is why they died,” he slowly told her.
“I-I don’t understand.”
“Sarah, I left mother and the girls believing that they’d get on the train like I told them to. I had to get to the police station and report what happened, before Father did something terrible to somebody else. After I told the authorities what had been done, they came back home with me. I…I didn’t want to let them in the room, but they promised they’d just take a glancing look. I opened the door. The scene was grisly. We all thought…we believed you were dead! All of us. The investigators left you alone, for the time being. At least until we could find Father. Some of the policemen were friends of mine and they…they knew you. They knew the good work you did down on the docks and at the orphanage. That’s the only reason they let you stay there, and didn’t move you. More to the point, they were hellbent on finding Father. The police sergeant told me that, if the door to the office and your room stayed locked, the crime scene was okay. Every man on the police force was pulled out, to turn the island upside down. Dozens of them were looking for Father before the storm hit. I helped. We scoured every place we thought the bastard might hide, but I think he had a friend in some of the brothels. There were so many places he could have gone. But then…then the storm blew in and all hell broke loose —”
“You’ve…you’ve been trying to tactfully explain…to tell me that injuries from the storm didn’t turn me immortal. I just didn’t want to hear you,” she whispered.
“Yeah, Sarah. Your near-death experience came at Father’s hands. I’m as certain of that as I’ve ever been of anything in my life. Your wounds must have taken quite a while to heal that first time…”
“I didn’t wake up until the hurricane was in full force. Father hit me on Friday. The storm came on a Saturday,” she muttered as her eyes widened. “I still had bruises on my face, but nothing like what you described.”
They both turned to the oldest immortal present, as if seeking confirmation of facts.
Mac sighed heavily before speaking. “Since the initial wounds were very bad, it could have taken many hours for her to have healed. Her head wasn’t off, that’s the important part. She still might have woken up with bad bruises. Her body was still healing during that first initiation into immortality. I’ve seen it happen before. In fact, I’ll bet you both that I could pummel Merlin right now. Really hard! The bruises I put on ‘im might stay there for a while, even as old and as powerful as he is.” Mac shook his head, to get focused back on the point. “Uh…your sister…you, Frankie…might have incurred more injuries during the storm. You might have even incurred broken bones. But they’d heal, too. Slightly quicker with each, successive injury after immorality was initiated.”
Frankie…also now known as Sarah…stared at her brother. “Father hated me so much he wanted me d-dead?”
When he heard her voice break, Mac spoke up again. “If he was using mercury heavily, his mind was going or gone, Frankie. That’s what it did to people. It’s a very dangerous substance.”
“No,” she whispered. “Not because of the mercury. He just wanted me dead, Mac. He hated me,” she sadly finished as she plopped onto a nearby rock in dejection.
The look on her face almost broke his heart. “Frankie, you heard what your brother just said. Your Father had procured what sounds like a shitload of a very dangerous substance; probably from a lot of shady sources. He was likely overdosing, trying to hide and cure his condition without anyone hearing about it. In those days, he’d have been shunned by everyone. A father doesn’t hate his child —”
“Thanks for trying,” Scott interrupted, “but he did hate her. He never said he loved anybody, but he sure as hell would have done anything to have got Sarah out of his life. She was everything he despised about women. Strong, resourceful, and loved by those whose opinion mattered.” The brother then knelt by his sister. “According to Merlin, the bastard is alive now and screwing Morgan LeFey. What are you gonna do about it, Sis?”
She lifted her face, and looked toward the horizon before standing and staring at them like an avenging goddess. “When the battle comes to this place…he’s mine!”
Mac backed up. The force of her emotions hit him like a wall of steel. He’d never, in all his immortal life, sensed such determined fury. To quell Frankie’s sudden rage, he turned to Scott.
“There’s more to the story, Trey…or should I call you Scott from now on?”
“Call me anything you want, as long as one of the names is friend.” He shook his head. “My entrance into immortality is a bit less gruesome. I was still hunting for dear old dad when the storm of the century hit the island like a demon. I was searching some back streets for anyone who might have known and seen Father when a wall of water rushed toward me. The next thing I knew, I was being pulled out of a mountain of dead animals and debris. I couldn’t imagine how I’d lived through, but I had. I didn’t know I was immortal. It wasn’t until I fell down some scaffolding, almost a year later, that I broke both my legs and watched ‘em heal right in front of me. That’s when I knew what I was.”
Rallying to
her brother’s sad tale, Frankie regrouped from her anger, and asked the next question. “How did you get to Britain? Why are you a British citizen working with POSI? But, most of all, what happened to Mother and the twins?”
“After I pulled myself together, I started helping clear bodies and tried to find survivors. Communication to the mainland was cut for a long time. I still thought Mother and the girls made it to Houston okay.” He lowered his head.
“Scott?” she prompted.
“There were a few survivors who lived on our street. Several told me that they’d seen Mother and the girls going into the Sterrington’s house, right before the storm. It was two blocks over. It was the big house with the dark roof. Remember?”
“Yes. Mrs. Sterrington and her husband often came to parties at the house. But why would Mother go there?”
“I think she had sense enough not to go home. She wasn’t particularly good with emergencies. You always handled things that were too difficult.”
“And?” Frankie breathlessly asked.
“The Sterrington home was totally destroyed. I knew the people that had seen Mother and the twins enter that house. I knew I was being told accurate information about them showing up there, because the twins’ matching travel bags were mentioned.” He swiped one hand across his face before continuing. “Captain Ellis and his crew had returned by then. They went with me to the block where the Sterrington house would have been. We dug through debris for days.”
A long silence ensued.
Mac broke it with one question. “You found them?”
“Yes,” Trey responded, almost inaudibly. “Ellis and the other men burned their bodies. I couldn’t. I just…couldn’t.”
“Trey?” Mac prompted.
Trey cleared his throat and spoke again. “It was ordered that we burn bodies. There wasn’t any place to bury anyone. The ground was soaked…”
Cold wind blew through the hills. Another very long round of terrible silence ensued, before Frankie spoke once more.
“Why did they not go to the mainland? Why would Mother go back?” she muttered.
“What was the one thing she always said to you, when you defied Father?” Trey asked.
Frankie closed her eyes as more tears fell down her face. “Of course, of course.”
Since some unspoken understanding now filtered between the siblings, Mac had to ask though he felt like shit for doing so. “What was her reason? Why would your mother stay there after what had happened? Why didn’t she go to the mainland?”
Frankie turned to him and spoke softly. “Mother always told me that no matter how bad things were…no matter what a man did…a wife’s place was by her husband’s side.”
Trey finished the sentiment. “No matter how afraid she was of being alone with him, she went back because she was more afraid of living life without him. Unfortunately, she took the twins with ‘er.”
“God!” Mac woodenly responded. His stomach turned, at a loss so nearly avoided.
“She didn’t have the courage Sarah did…does,” Trey quickly corrected. “After that, I…I tried to stay on the island. I was working at the docks some time later when I fell, and my legs healed in the span of a couple of minutes. But, when I figured out what I had become…I just got up, got on the nearest boat, and headed away. I kept going until I got to the east coast, then on to Europe. I never looked back. Nothing I cared about was alive. What was the point of staying? I guess, I was kind of broken at that point. My decision wasn’t about just my legs healing. It had more to do with nothing being good in Galveston anymore. Every source of pain I’d known was on those beaches, and on every street.” He gazed at his sister. “If I’d known about you, Sarah. I wouldn’t have ever left. I swear.”
“In all the searching, you must have missed each other,” Mac sadly announced. “Sarah ended up in Washington. You ended up working for POSI, Trey. But why? You never told me that part of your life’s story.”
“Not much to tell that wouldn’t have reminded me of Galveston. At any rate, I found myself in a London bar, surrounded by POSI immortals looking to take me into custody. Some law-abiding immortal had sensed my presence, but didn’t recognize me as being legally registered. I got reported to the authorities. They thought I was a rogue. I suppose, by UK standards, I was.” He shook his head. “I didn’t fight. I went with those POSI agents. I was taken to London HQ. There, it was learned that I was an American. That’s where I met Merlin. I told him my sad tale. He told me who he was and all about Morgan LeFey and the future battle.”
Mac drew himself up. “He told an American immortal top-secret information? An American immortal he’d only just met?”
“Merlin said ‘I had an honest face’. Whatever the hell that meant.” Trey shrugged. “You and I both know that he’d probably seen me in one of his visions. Me and Sarah.”
“But he never said a thing to either of you,” Mac groused as he shook his head.
“That’s about it, as I see it. Anyhow, Merlin made a promise that if I’d work with him, and become a UK citizen, he’d keep me off the public registries, and I wouldn’t have to have a human claviger reporting my every move, as the law requires. Having no other purpose in life, that’s what I did. I’ve been working, at his beck and call, all these years.”
“And you never told me any of this?” Mac gently complained.
“Couldn’t. I promised Merlin. He said it was a matter of world security. When you and I worked cases, Mac, Merlin made it quite clear that I wasn’t to talk about certain issues. Like I told you before, Galveston wasn’t something I ever wanted to speak about. That part of my existence I withheld on my own.”
Mac slowly shook his head. It was all true. Back then, Merlin had seen visions of both Trey and Frankie. Merlin would have likely seen their connection in the future, in the coming battle with Morgan. Even then, the old sorcerer hadn’t told the brother and sister a thing about each other’s survival. It was one of the cruelest things he’d ever heard of.
Frankie stood again. This time, the woman was angrier than before. The raw rage in her stance, also evidenced by the sword she raised, would have been easily interpreted by any human who might have been present; never mind two immortals standing near her with preternatural senses fully engaged. Frankie wanted revenge.
“Merlin! That son-of-a-bitch knew my brother was alive and he kept us apart…for over a goddam century! He knew my murdering father was alive and working with Morgan LeFey. He knew it, and he never said a fucking word! He only let me know my brother was alive now, because he’s sure I’ll bring American immortals into the battle to assure Scott’s safety! Merlin used me. He’s been using me for a long, damned time.” She lifted her sword even higher.
“Frankie, calm down,” Mac advised.
“Listen to Mac,” Trey added.
“That magical bastard probably lured the rogues into the north, and right to us tonight, just so he’d have an excuse to have Scott conveniently show up! He used to let enough information out so that rogues could be led into an ambush, where POSI immortals would take ‘em out. Merlin was good at luring rogues into traps. He did it all during the war. That’s how we killed and arrested so many of ’em,” she raged. “He used those same tactics tonight!”
“All of that is true,” Mac softly agreed. “I believe that’s precisely what Merlin did on this occasion. But, you need to put that sword down and think, Frankie! You cannot go after Merlin. I know that’s what you want. Hell, I want to put some hurt on him, too, but you can’t win. Not like this.”
“He’s a meddling, cruel, hurtful…freak! He got King Arthur killed, now he’s gonna use any and every one of us to put his mistake right. That’s the reason we’re all in this! He’s lied to Garrett Bloodnight, lied to me, lied to Scotty and to you, Mac. Now, he wants me to call in American immortals, so he can use them? I don’t think so!”
“Pull that rug out from under him. You’re in the perfect position to do it,” Mac urged.
&n
bsp; She glared at him. “What do you mean?”
“If you still feel like Americans are needed here, you make certain conditions for their involvement. Conditions that cannot be changed. Not by Merlin or anyone else.”
Frankie lowered her sword, but kept it pointed in the last known direction Merlin had taken. “Explain!”
Mac moved closer to her, then gently put his hand on her sword as he pushed it downward. “Tell Washington that any immortals sent here are under your command. Insist that they answer strictly to you, not to Merlin or anyone else. When Americans were stationed on British soil during the war, they answered to their own commanding officers, not to anyone from the government. Not even to the queen.”
Frankie stared up at him for a moment. “Merlin won’t like that.”
“No, he most certainly will not,” Mac advised. “Merlin prides himself on his caginess, and his ability to outwit others. You simply use your own reputation to undermine him. Tell him that if he wants Morgan defeated here…with no humans in the outside world learning the truth about the Arthurian legend…with no one in the outside world learning of Ethereals’ existence…or of the entire population of the British empire learning of his sidestepping UK laws when and as he damned well pleases…tell him he’s going to agree with your conditions.”
“You want me to blackmail him?” she asked. “But he knows I won’t endanger anyone’s life or the monarchy by threatening to withhold —”
“If he wants American immortals in this battle, he needs to make concessions. Threaten to withhold aid if he doesn’t let you control the American contingent. Make sure he tells the queen and Washington that it’s his idea that you’re in charge of them. Then, when your Americans get here, insist that Merlin stays away from them. That way, the old cuss can’t use magic, half-truths, or full-blown lies to get what he wants out of them. Make it obvious that they aren’t his toys to play with! Make sure that his only go between, with Washington, should be you. No one else.”
