by A C Warneke
“I shouldn’t have panicked,” she mumbled, breathing in Vaughn’s familiar scent as Armand placed her in the comfortable bed.
“You’re only human.” Amusement laced Armand’s voice but Melanie had a hard time finding the humor. At the moment all she wanted to do was close her eyes and lose herself in the oblivion of sleep. She started to roll onto her side when she felt the pull of fresh stitches along her belly so she tried moving the other way but the bed pressed against her ribs.
“Let me see the damage,” Armand murmured, carefully removing her clothes. She was too overwhelmed with grief to care that she lay naked before him. Turning her head to the side, she closed her eyes as Armand clinically and methodically examined her cuts and bruises, his hands lightly moving over the tender wounds.
“Can you heal her?” Rhys softly asked from the door way.
“Of course, but it will take a little time,” Armand answered, warmth spreading outwards from where he touched her with the tips of his fingers.
“Why?” Melanie asked the question but her voice had no sound and the scent of Vaughn filled her head. Warmth pulsed through her wounds and the world disappeared.
Chapter Nineteen
“Why are you so much more powerful that your brothers?” Melanie asked Armand several days later as he continued to gradually heal her body. In a lightweight camisole and a pair of silky panties, she was strangely comfortable wearing so little in Armand’s presence. His touch was tender and full of affection, but it was the affection of a healer for a patient. Or a brother towards a sister.
When she asked about his healing, he had explained that her body would go into shock if he healed her too quickly because it wouldn’t understand the difference between healing and infection. It would retaliate, hurting her even more in the process, and then things would get really messed up. Mostly healed and not quite so numb, she finally felt almost human. She just had to learn to live without her heart.
“I gave up my nights for a woman once,” he murmured distantly, but she had already figured that much out. With a negligent shrug, he added, “I lost the girl and I gained some power.”
That was such an understatement.
She looked down at Armand’s large hands on her left arm: the cast was gone and there was no pain. Running her hands over her ribs, she discovered that they were no longer wrapped in bandages either. She took a deep breath and felt her lungs expand to full capacity. Moving her free hand over her face, she no longer had any stitches and there was no more pain. Armand had told her that she would always have the faint scars but they would continue to fade. She was endlessly amazed by how quickly she was healing, even if it wasn’t instantaneous.
Armand wasn’t just good, he was incredible. She had had no idea he was so powerful. She was lucky that it had been Vanessa that night in her apartment because she would have forgotten Vaughn….
Hell, maybe it would have been better if Armand had erased her memory. Then Vaughn would still be a living gargoyle and she wouldn’t know this crushing agony. But then she wouldn’t have known Vaughn and that would have been tragic.
“Do you hate her?” she asked softly, glancing up at Armand from beneath her lashes. He truly was a stunning man with his black hair and piercing green eyes and sculpted-to-perfection face. He cocked the head to the side in question and she licked her bottom lip, “Do you hate the woman for not choosing you?”
He was silent for a long time, staring intently at his healing hands on her left arm. The silence grew deafening and Melanie was debating whether or not to ask again when he rasped, “It was easier to blame her for not choosing me and I think I must have hated her for not loving me enough.” He laughed without humor, “I even told her about the repercussions before we ever began and she was eager to be my eternal mate. But in the end she changed her mind.”
A tear ran down her cheek and her lips trembled, “Did you ever forgive her?”
His eyes searched hers, perhaps trying to find the answer. Brushing the tear from her cheek with the pad of his thumb, he nodded his head once, “Yes, I believe I have.”
“Do you think Vaughn hates me?” her voice was barely more than a whisper but she knew he heard her; his head jerked back as if she had slapped him.
“No, sweetheart,” Armand said vehemently, cupping her face in his palm and forcing her eyes to meet his. “No. He loved you until the end. He loves you still.”
“Will he forgive me?”
Closing his eyes, he gathered her up in his arms and held her close. She wrapped her arms around his neck as tears fell unheeded against the navy silk of his shirt. Stroking her back, trying to comfort the devastated girl, he whispered roughly, “Even though you were too late I love you for choosing Vaughn and I wish I could take all of your pain away.”
“Is there anything we can do?” she managed to get out between gut-wrenching sobs as her grip tightened and her body was intimately pressed against his. She was nearly crawling into his skin and she was unaware of how little she wore.
Armand’s arms tightened and he could feel how much weight she had lost in the last couple of days. In addition to having spent a week in a coma, she hadn’t been eating since waking up. She pecked at the food he and Rhys brought to her but in her grief she had no appetite. Pressing his nose against the curve of her neck, he inhaled deeply and slowly let it out. “There may be a way.”
Abruptly, she pulled away and looked at him, her blue eyes swimming in tears. A small smile trembled on her lips and she was practically in his skin, “Really?”
Clearing his throat, he swallowed, “I take his place.”
Her brows drew together and she frowned at him, “I don’t understand.”
“You perform the ritual with me,” he said roughly, holding his body and emotions tightly together. “If I give up my nights for you than he should be free.”
She stared at him as if he was mad and perhaps he was. He swore never to give up his nights again and he was offering to do so for this girl, knowing that the ritual would never be completed. She would still grow old and die but at least his brother would have a few years with her….
She fell out of his arms and flung herself back onto the bed, laughing. “Oh, Armand, I do love you but you know that is an impossible solution.”
“Melanie,” he growled, leaning over her until she was beneath him and they were face to face. He rested his forearms against the bed on either side of her head as he glared down at her. “Damn it, Melanie, I’m serious.”
Reaching up, she stroked the silken skin of his cheek and gazed at him with a soft expression, her blue eyes sparkling with tears and broken laughter, “I know you are, Armand, but I’m not going to do that to you or to Vaughn.”
With a sigh, she turned her head to the side, “Maybe Omari knows how to get him back.”
Armand went preternaturally still atop of her, “You know Omari.”
“Yes,” she sighed again, a slight smile curving her lips. Before she could explain how she knew him, there was a deliberate cough from the door. Armand turned his head and saw Rhys standing in the doorway, an amused expression on his face as he took in the scene before him.
“Sweetheart, your sister is here to see you,” Rhys grinned as Armand pushed himself from Melanie’s bed and stood up, keeping a wary eye on the girl.
Confusion, bewilderment, and pleasure twisted together inside of Melanie and she dumbly asked, “How does she even know where I am?”
It wasn’t that she was trying to hide from her loved ones she just didn’t want them to see the severities of her injuries. Plus, she needed some time to figure out how she was going to handle the loss of Vaughn. Selfishly, she hadn’t given much thought to them at all since waking up in the hospital and realizing she was too late to save Vaughn. She hadn’t thought about much of anything.
“Apparently there was a news reports about a girl who woke up from a week long coma and simply disappeared from the hospital,” Rhys explained and she could hear the
smile in is voice. “Jenna recognized your photo immediately even though it was taken while you were unconscious and broken.”
Melanie groaned, rolling her eyes and smiling wryly. “I hope nobody else recognized me. I wasn't very pretty at the time.”
Rhys chuckled, striding forward and placing a brotherly kiss on her forehead, “She’s determined to see you so shall I let her in?”
“Of course,” Melanie said, struggling to sit up against the headboard. It was made nearly impossible because Vaughn’s bed was so luxurious and plush and she just wanted to sink back into it and fall asleep. Pushing her tangled hair out of her face, she looked from Rhys to Armand, who had the strangest expression. “How do I look?”
“You look beautiful,” Rhys said sincerely but she didn’t believe him. Even if she hadn’t given any thought at all to her appearance over the last few days, she knew she looked a wreck. She turned her head to Armand but he just glowered, grabbing Rhys’s arm and leading him from the bedroom. She must have looked worse than she thought.
As soon as they left, she once again dragged her fingers through her tousled hair, hoping to look at least somewhat presentable for when she saw Jenna. What was she going to say to her sister? How could she explain where Vaughn was and why she was living with his brothers and not back at the house? It was true that she had been pretty out of it but she should have given a brief thought to calling her family and letting them know that she was all right. And as long as she didn’t think about Vaughn… as long as she didn’t think about him, she was almost okay.
Except she wasn’t all right and it was all her fault. How could she admit to her sister that she was a fool and a coward? She waivered in her love for Vaughn and then she gave up her protection and lost him completely. Had she never doubted, never panicked, she would be with Vaughn right now, learning how to be a gargoyle. She wouldn’t be alone during the day because she would be with Vaughn and his brothers. She would be a gargoyle.
An involuntary shudder tripped through her body at the thought: she would have been a gargoyle. She wasn’t sure if it was relief or disappointment that she felt and she wondered what her gargoyle form would have been. It seemed as if the brothers’ forms matched their personalities: Vaughn, the golden, glorious lion; Rhys, the mischievous monkey; and Armand, the mythical, powerful griffin. With a snort, she realized she probably would have been a demented rabbit, cowardly and timid.
She wondered if they would have been able to make love as gargoyles….
What was Armand thinking, offering to give up his nights for her? Even if it did work, it would change the dynamics between the brothers and she doubted Vaughn would easily accept the fact she had sex with his brother. Even if she repeated the ritual with Vaughn to release Armand and then completed it this time, that betrayal would always be between them. It would gravely alter Vaughn’s relationship with Armand and with her.
What was taking Jenna so long? Going absolutely still, she strained her ears to try to hear anything. From somewhere in the massive apartment, she could make out raised voices, all of which were male. But the penthouse suite was so large she was unable to make out any of the words and she doubted she would have understood anything unless they were standing right outside her door. They weren’t so she had no idea what was being said or why they were yelling.
Putting her hand in front of her mouth, she huffed out a breath and sniffed. Yuck, she had to brush her teeth. Hell, she needed to take a shower since she had no idea if they bathed her while she was in the hospital. In the time that she had been with the brothers she hadn’t cared about hygiene, she had just wanted oblivion. Since it appeared as if it was going to be another few minutes before Jenna was going to be escorted back so Melanie decided to take a quick shower.
Sliding out of the luxurious bed, she stretched her mended body, still in awe of Armand’s power. At least that was something positive to come out of this miserable ordeal: when Vaughn awoke, he’d be as powerful as Armand. With their combined power, they would be able to save Rhys from himself if the monkey ever decided to do anything so foolish as to fall in love with a human. Maybe there was a girl gargoyle out there for Rhys, though she admittedly knew very little about the whole gargoyle society. There had been so much she had wanted to do with Vaughn and she thought that there would be plenty of time to ask him all of her questions and now he was gone and she knew nothing about his… culture.
Hell, she would have been an ostrich with her head buried in the sand. Except he had never been able to answer any of her many questions.
The reality of Vaughn being gone slammed into her and she had to lean against the bed before she crumbled to the ground. Her chest was tight as she struggled not to cry. If she started to cry she’d never stop and she couldn’t afford to slip into a pool of self-pity at the moment. Jenna was here and it wasn’t fair to be so weak when her sister had been so strong when she lost Jeremy. Especially since it was Melanie’s fault Vaughn was lost to her. At least he wasn’t dead.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Melanie let that thought play around in her head. Vaughn wasn’t dead. He was not dead.
Her chest eased and she was able to take a breath once more. She would pester Rhys and Armand and make them teach her everything there was to know about gargoyles and if there was a way to waken Vaughn early, she would discover it. Even if it took the rest of her life, she would find a way to say goodbye to him face to face before she died, to tell him how very much she loved him and how sorry she was for failing him.
With a renewed sense of purpose, she went into Vaughn’s massive bathroom. She eyed the deep, whirlpool bathtub with envy, knowing that there wasn’t enough time to soak in the hot water. Nope, she was stuck with the decadent shower that boasted seven shower heads set in strategic places. She blushed, thinking about some of the erotic things Vaughn had done to her in that wicked shower….
She turned on the water and undressed while it heated up. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she paused and truly looked at her reflection. She barely recognized the familiar stranger who stared back. Her body had healed but she had lost too much weight and her eyes stared back from a face that was gaunt. Running her hands over her torso, she felt the poke of each rib and she could see the jutting bones of her pelvis and clavicle. At one time she had desired to be so thin but she realized as she looked at her skeletal body that she was sickly skinny. Even her face looked horribly thin, her cheekbones too prominent and her eyes too large.
She was going to have to make an effort to eat because she needed to keep her strength up to find a way to return Vaughn to her.
Stepping into the shower, she mechanically washed her hair and her body, barely aware of what she was doing. She remembered how Vaughn had made love to her in the shower and she started to smile until she remembered that Vaughn was gone. The water streamed over her body as she cried, falling to her knees as despair gripped her. Bending her head forward, she leaned against the wall and let the tears fall freely.
She didn’t know how long she stayed like that but it was long enough for the water to get cold. She startled when the cool water was turned off and a warm towel was wrapped around her shoulders. Her head jerked up and she saw Jenna and before she knew anything, she was in her sister’s arms, hugging Jenna with all that she was worth.
“Shh,” Jenna murmured, stroking Melanie’s wet hair and pressing comforting kisses to her cheek. “It’s all right. I’m here now.”
“What am I going to do, Jenna?” Melanie gasped after she cried herself out, clutching Jenna, needing her sister’s strength and comfort. “It’s all my fault….”
“Hush,” Jenna whispered, standing up and pulling Melanie to her feet. Tenderly, she used the towel to dry Melanie off before she wrapped her sister in it and sat her down on a stool. Pulling a bush through the tangled strands of her hair, Jenna murmured, “You’re going to help mom and dad watch Ferris for me.”
Melanie’s face contorted in confus
ion, “But… why?”
“I’m going to Greece,” Jenna said casually, matter-of-factly.
Melanie looked up and saw the slight flush staining her sister’s pale skin and didn’t understand. Dumbly, she repeated, “But… why?”
“Well, according to the very strange man I just met, there may be a way to get Vaughn back.”
Melanie jerked around, wincing when her hair was nearly yanked from her head, “What do you mean?”
Tsking, Jenna grabbed Melanie’s shoulders and gently turned her around so she could continue brushing her hair. “You’ve been keeping a lot of secrets from me, Melanie.”
Melanie had the good sense to blush as she lowered her lashes, “They weren’t my secrets to tell, you must realize that.”
“Mmm-hm,” Jenna drawled out. “I knew something was different about Vaughn and his brothers, I just hadn’t realized how different.”
“You’re taking this very well,” Melanie said carefully, not knowing how much Jenna knew.
“I’m still in shock,” Jenna admitted.
“Wait a minute,” Melanie frowned, grabbing Jenna’s wrist and spinning around in the stool. Looking up at Jenna’s paler than usual face, she asked, “What do you mean you’re going to Greece? And what strange man? Armand?”
“Not Armand. You never mentioned how absolutely gorgeous he is, by the way” Jenna smiled slightly. “No, not Armand – Omari. I’m surprised you couldn’t hear the conversation, the three of them were loud enough.”
“You met Omari?” Melanie asked numbly, surprised by such a revelation. “I don’t understand. What does he have to do with any of this?”
Jenna chuckled nervously, “I’m not exactly sure but somehow he convinced Rhys and me to go on a strange, strange quest. At first, Armand was furious that Omari was there and he was adamantly opposed to the idea but eventually Rhys convinced him to let us go.”
