Awakening (The Magic of the Black Forest Book 2) (18 page)

I sort of smiled in return. We gazed into each other’s eyes until Colleen interrupted us by telling Bradley to leave.

“We need to clean her up.”

“Please make up some of that healing poultice so I can put an end to some of this pain
.”

He nodded then walked out of the room.

“Jess, sometimes I think they speak to each other telepathically.” Looking at me, Colleen spoke to Jesse, but the comment felt more like a question that was being directed at me, not him. I tried to smile but it hurt too much. She must have caught a glimpse of it because she winked at me.

When Bradley returned they both watched him. “Do you want me to have them leave?”

“No. You may need their help. Please shut the door I don’t want anyone else to hear or see me.”
Before now I hadn’t realized that I’d been completely naked in front of Jesse and Colleen. My poor Bradley, the thoughts that must have been running through his mind filled my heart with sorrow.

“I’m sorry that you have to see me like this. Maybe you should go?”

“No, I’m staying.” He shut the door before kneeling by the side of the bed again. “I think we should start with the wounds that are still bleeding, what do you think?” His eyes looked a little wild, pained. I wondered, since the change, if my blood made him thirstier than before. And, although it pained me to see him suffer, I couldn’t heal the blood seeping wounds first. My jaw hurt the most, so I needed to start there.

“
Please start at my jaw. I think it’s broken.”
His jaw dropped as his eyes turned cold, filling with hate, anger and revengeful. Carefully he spread the poultice along my entire jaw. It hurt so bad that I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Halfway through, he asked me if I needed him to stop. Of course, to get it over with, I said no.

“Okay, it’s your turn.” He smiled softly but it didn’t reach his eyes, they were pained.

With my good arm I waved my hand over my jaw and started to chant the healing spell. It didn’t work the first time so I concentrated harder and said the words out loud over and over again. Saying the words out loud, although not very clear, increased the pain at first, but eventually with every completed chant, I felt my jaw healing. It took several minutes before I could speak clearly, before I could move my jaw easily without any pain.

“Okay that’s better,” I smiled at the three of them. Bradley’s lips were on mine before I could say another word. When he pulled away I said, “I know. I’ve missed you, too.” And we laughed together. His laugh having also changed was music to my ears. I stopped laughing just so I could listen to it.

“What?”

“Your laugh changed. So much of you has changed.” I stared in wonder, no in
awe
.

“Is that a good or bad thing?”

How could he ask such a thing? “Good. Well…” When I hesitated, he stood there gaping at me, worried. “No. It’s just that you take my breath away. I didn’t think it would be possible to love you more than I already did.” I smiled and felt my face getting hot.

His hand skimmed over my blushing cheeks. “You had me worried for a minute. Let’s get back to healing you so that we can show each other the love we feel.”

We spent hours healing my battered body. My arm didn’t take as long as my jaw thankfully. Bradley had to make several bowls of my aunt’s poultice. Luckily, we started stocking up months ago on herbs and the other ingredients needed. He said with my reckless ways he knew I would get hurt again. I’m happy to say that this time it wasn’t my fault. When we finally got to my ankle, I couldn’t heal it.

“I think while I mended my other broken bones, it may have started to heal itself.” I knew what had to be done and dreaded saying it aloud. “Bradley I think it may be better if you stepped out for a moment.”

“I’m not leaving you again, Natalia... Why?” The look on his face told me he had no plans of going anywhere, not in his mind anyway. But I knew he would not be able to stand by and watch someone hurt me even if it had been to help me.

“Fine, but you’re going to wish you had. Jesse, I need you to re-break my ankle.” I sat up and felt it. “It set itself wrong. I won’t be able to walk on it like this.” I kept my eyes on Jesse ignoring Bradley, who said there had to be another way. “Jesse, can you do this for me? If you can’t then we’ll need to go to the hospital. Either way it has to be broken or repositioned. I would prefer doing it here so that I can try and heal it afterwards.”

“And what if you can’t heal it?” Jesse asked anxiously.

“We’ll have to cast it after we set it.” I gave Jesse a few seconds to digest my request then repeated my question, “Jess, will you break my ankle or not?”

“Yes.” He turned and looked at Bradley. “Don’t hurt me, Brad. If you insist on staying here while I do this, remember she asked me to do this. Don’t do anything we’ll both regret.”

“Wait.” I was about to beg Bradley to let Jess do it, but he put his fingers over my lips and said, “You’re right I can’t watch this. I can’t watch someone hurt you and I don’t want to hurt my friend for fulfilling your wishes.” He kissed me gently and said, “I want to be brought back in the second it’s broken and not a moment later.”

We all agreed and he left the room. Jesse gave me a few shots around my ankle to numb it a little. Although I didn’t think it’ll matter, it’s still going to hurt. While we waited for the shots to kick in Jesse maneuvered my ankle around I’m assuming to see how to break it.

“Are you ready Nat?” He laughed and shrugged his shoulders as he said it.

“I would have preferred not knowing when you were going to do it. That’s all right. Just remember that for the future.” I laughed half-heartedly.

He lifted his one eyebrow saying, “Do you plan on doing…”

SNAP!!

I didn’t mean to, but I did. I screamed in agony. The pain had been worse the second time around. Bradley banged on the door demanding to come in. Colleen held it firmly shut telling him Jess hadn’t finished yet.

“What… you’re not…” Jesse’s eyes were apologetic as he twisted my ankle around again. This time I did not scream. I heard a few more snaps and passed out from the pain. Much better.

When I came to again Bradley was sitting behind me with the upper part of my body leaning against his solid muscular chest. He had his cold hand on my forehead, which seemed to help immensely.

Jess and Colleen were making a cast for my ankle. I grabbed hold of Bradley’s pants, pulling myself up.

“Why are you casting it?”

“We won’t be able to touch your ankle without causing you more pain. There’ll be no way to spread the cream on your ankle. You’ll have to let this heal the old fashion way.” Colleen rubbed Jesse’s back trying to comfort him. Having to do that to me had really upset him. “It’s a clean break and I was able to reset it so it should heal fine.”

“Thanks, Doctor Jesse. You’re the best brother any little sister could hope for.” That brought a smile to his face. Resting my head against Bradley’s chest, I fell asleep before they finished casting my ankle.

Chapter 8

Rays of sunlight shining through our bedroom curtains woke me. Stretching, I felt a heavy weight anchoring my foot to the bed. That, along with the throbbing pain, reminded me of my broken ankle. Jesse did a good job. I could feel it healing and it felt like it was set right. In a few days I hoped to be able to finish the healing process with magic.

While putting on my housecoat, I noticed the house seemed awfully quiet. Even though the cast made it awkward to walk, I journeyed out into an empty living room, occasionally using a wall or two for support. Soft chatter traveled into the house through the front door, so I went out onto the porch hoping to find Bradley, but I found Cheryl instead.

When I first saw her, memories of her brutally vengeful attack rooted me to the wooden porch deck. My fear quickly turned to anger from her betrayal.

“Nat, what are you doing up?” Lost in my nightmarish memories, Colleen standing beside me startled me when she spoke. “Sit down.” Taking my hand, she gently guided me towards the table where Cheryl waited. Colleen slid the chair next to her out and gestured for me to take a seat. The entire time I kept my distrusting eye on Cheryl.

Frowning, I watched as she got up and went into my house.

“What is she doing?”

Colleen dismissively shrugged her shoulders.

A few minutes later, Cheryl returned with two cups of coffee. Handing a cup to me, she sat back down in the empty chair bedside me.

A strong desire to slide the chair away from me weighed heavily. Actually, at that moment, I’d rather she not be here at all. We stared at each other for a few moments before she spoke.

“Natalia,” I cringed hearing her voice saying my name. “I’m so sorry for what I did. There’s no excuse for my behavior. You, no all of you, have been good friends to me. I know if it weren’t for you, Dave would have never given me the time of day. You were the first person to show me honesty by caring enough to tell me the truth. Everyone else, they never took the time.” Trying to get it all out at once, the words raced quickly from her.

“What are you doing here?” That’s a simple, understandable question. There were mean and unintelligent words running through my mind, but my question pretty much said it all.

“She tried to leave, Nat, but Brad made her stay. Even after everything she did, she still brought you back, then told all of us the gory details, including the pain she inflicted on you.” Shocked, I looked at Colleen in confusion. Shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes she added, “Brad said you’d end up forgiving her anyway so we had all better do the same.”

“I am sorry, Nat. I don’t expect you to forgive me. If you wish I can leave right now.”

“Is Dave here?” She nodded yes. “Are the two of you still together?” Another nod. “Then you can stay. You’re welcome here when Dave is here.” I was stunned that Dave was still with her. There had to be more to this then what’s being perceived. “Cheryl, if you ever do something like that to us again, I will kill you myself. Do you understand?”

“Yes and thank you.” Nodding, she closed her eyes momentarily. She let out a long shaky breath.

“Thank you for bringing me back to Bradley.” If she hadn’t done that I could be dead right now instead of sitting here with a broken ankle and bruises. I rubbed my jaw, thankful I had been able to heal it.

“Thank you for stopping Andrew. Had you not done that I surely would not have recovered.”

Yeah, and don’t you forget it
, I thought to myself.

Wanting to forget that horrible night, I shoved the nightmarish memories deep into the back of my mind where they could no longer hurt me. It’s something I did with all my painful memories. The sooner I forgot them, the better. 

I turned my attention to Colleen, “How long was I out this time?” A hearty laugh shook her shoulders, bringing a smile to my face.

“You were asleep a little over twenty-four hours. Considering what you went through, you look surprisingly well rested and good.”

“Wow, that’s it. It feels like I’ve been out longer than that.” I’m sure I would have been had I not healed all the major wounds. “Where are the guys?”

With everything that had happened in the last couple of days, it felt like I hadn’t seen Bradley in weeks. It’s been too long; I needed to see him. The last time we saw each other my body, as well as my mind, had been severely traumatized. The memories of the pain and anger that raged in his eyes had my body trembling.

Remembering how different his touch felt, and his voice sounded, it worried me that he wouldn’t feel the same way about me.

“They went out to eat.” Colleen laughed at herself. “Dave said that Brad should feed more frequently until he has better control. They left about an hour ago.”

“Oh. Is he okay?” Emotions like fear and concern of the unexpected prompted the question. Better control of what, his thirst? “And what happened to Andrew?” I had a bad feeling about Andrew. My instincts told me he got away. I sure hope not, I just wanted it all to be over.

Colleen rolled her eyes at my concern, “Brad’s fine. He’s in control. Jess thinks that Brad is feeding more so that he can be ready to make up for lost time with you.” Winking, she laughed.

I’m pretty sure Jesse is wrong. Bradley will probably keep his hands to himself claiming that he’s worried about hurting me. It’ll be like it was before we were married or worse, he’ll no longer want me like he did before. I shook the negative thoughts aside.

She still didn’t answer my second question, giving me the impression that she wanted to avoid talking about Andrew, but I didn’t. I needed to know what’s going on so I asked again, “What happened to Andrew?”

“Nat, Brad doesn’t want us to say anything.”

“Well, Coll, Bradley is not here and I have a right to know. So please tell me.”

Cheryl chimed in, “He got away, Natty. They almost had him but Andrew got a hold of Jess and threw him.”

Like you did to me?
I scowled.

Pausing she looked away. “Both Dave and Brad ran to catch him before he slammed into a tree. Luckily they did or he may have had a broken back right now. Anyway Andrew took off.” Colleen just stared angrily at Cheryl. Angrily is too mild a word. Colleen’s eyes were murderous. “I’m not going to deceive her ever again, Colleen. She does have a right to know.”

“The fact that Brad lets you come here at all is beyond me, but he is definitely going to be upset about this.” Colleen glared wickedly at her. I envisioned that she was shooting daggers at her face; this made me smirk.

“Thanks, Cheryl. I won’t tell Bradley that you told me.” After a moment I decided now was a good time as any to say, “Cheryl, thanks for not telling Anthony and Andrew about me and Seager. Things would have been far worse had they known.”

“Enough of this depressing conversation!” Colleen demanded. Annoyed, she grabbed my hand and examined my fingers, then looked over at Cheryl’s. “Both of you are in desperate need of a manicure. What do you say, ladies?”

“Fine. But first I need a shower. And I have a slight dilemma.” I looked down at my ugly cast. “What am I going to wear?”

“We’ll get your clothes and the nail polishes while you get a shower.”

***

Before getting into the shower I chanted a spell to prevent my cast from getting wet. I tried to get a quick shower but it just didn’t happen. The hot water felt too good on my achy body. When the hot water turned cold, I had no choice but to get out. Quickly, I brushed my teeth and hair before hollering for my clothes.

Just as suspected, Colleen took advantage of the situation by handing me a skirt. After putting on the pretty blue blouse and black skirt she had picked out, I went back out front, admitting only to myself that the skirt had been easier to put on with the cast.

When standing fully on the porch, Colleen started clapping, telling me how beautiful I looked and how much Bradley was going to like my outfit. For her, I slowly twirled, my balance wavered because of the cast, forcing me to take a seat.

Each of them took one of my hands and did my nails. While they dried, Colleen did Cheryl’s.

Watching Cheryl, I started to feel a little grateful that Bradley hadn’t sent her away. It would take me a long time to trust her again and I doubted if I’d be alone with her anytime soon. She had made a huge mistake, but overall she was a good person. I felt bad for her because I knew she didn’t have any real friends before, not until she met us. Never experiencing the true value of friendship, she got a little lost. One day, but not anytime soon, I will ask her what actually sent her over the edge.

Enjoying the view of our beautiful yard, I noticed a Winnebago on the other side of the house. It looked fairly new, suitable for a small family.

“What’s that doing here?” I asked as I pointed towards it.

“Oh yeah, that. Well, Jess and I will be living in that for the next few days.”

“Why?”

“Before you woke up, all Brad kept saying is that he wanted everyone to leave so he could be alone with you. He said the two of you had been apart for too long.” She tried to mimic his voice but failed miserably. “Jess on the other hand refused to leave until Andrew is taken care of. So after several hours of them arguing back and forth, this was the compromise I came up with. This way Brad will be alone with you at night, Jess can still watch over the both of you, and I will get some quality alone time with Jesse. So that…” she pointed to the Winnebago “…is to make everyone happy.”

“Oh. Okay. As long as everyone is happy.”

I got up and went into the house. At first I wasn’t sure why, but when I found myself standing on the back porch I knew. In the middle of our yard the grass was a charcoal black, still freshly charred from cremating Anthony. There would always be a scar, a small reminder of my final encounter with Anthony. At first, I felt proud of myself. Proud that I had the courage to stand up to Anthony and destroy him for his evil ways.

The pride and confidence vanished after replaying the horrible encounters I had with Andrew, leaving me to feel ashamed and weak because I didn’t have the strength or courage to defeat him. It was devastating to know that he was still out there, and I feared that I may never be free of him. Because of him, Bradley had to change, which in turn has inescapably changed our relationship forever.

“What’s up, Nat?” Startled, I spun around, nearly falling over, to find a worried look on Colleen’s face.

“Nothing. I just wanted to see it in the daylight. It felt like it happened a long time ago.” I walked back into the house, through the kitchen, into the living room. From my point of view I could see Cheryl sitting on the porch. My body trembled with worry. I grew concerned that if Cheryl saw the burnt patch she would snap and attack me again.

“Come on, Nat, what’s really bothering you?” Her voice barely audible, she stood in front of me, put her hands on my shoulders, and studied my eyes. “Why are you frightened?” Have my eyes deceived me? How did she know I was frightened?

“A lot has happened this past week. I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be here.” She hugged me and didn’t let go right away. “It’ll be okay, Nat.” Although she was right about my being frightened, I was more worried about Bradley and me. Now that he was a vampire, our relationship would never be the same again. It’ll be just like before… Or worse, he won’t want me anymore. My tears came quicker than usual.

“Why are you crying,” she asked, hugging me again. “He won’t get to you, we won’t let him.”

I already knew they wouldn’t be able to stop him from getting to me. Or Bradley for that matter. It’s my destiny, our destiny. Whether or not I survive was irrelevant, he’s coming for me and there’s nothing any of us can do. That’s why it’s so important that Bradley and I spend our time wisely together. No one truly knows what tomorrow will bring, our odds are worse than most because we don’t know when or where that sadistic bastard is going to attack next.

“I’m not thinking about Andrew, Coll. I’m thinking about Bradley. Now that he’s a vampire everything is going to change. It’ll never be the same.”

Her body shook with laughter. “Are you kidding me? Brad has been pacing trying to figure out how he’s going to get alone time with his wife. The entire time you were out he’s been trying to figure out ways that the two of you can still be together. Both of you are exhausting!”

It is exactly as I feared. His feelings for me did change, otherwise why would he have thought of ways to keep us together?

“The guys are on their way back. It won’t be long. Let’s go sit out front and wait for them. Dry your tears, Nat, or
your Bradley
will get upset.”

Her sarcastic tone made me smile. I didn’t want to bring her down, too. Plus, I will do everything I can to make sure Bradley is happy, even if it is without me.

“Thanks, Coll. I’ll race ya.” Using my magic, I knocked her to the ground and hobbled quickly to the door, beating her to the finish line. “I win!” I raised my hands, waving them in the air and cheering, “Winner.”

“I can’t believe you cheated.” Shaking her head, her eyes were wide with astonishment.