Haeven (15 page)

He raised his head and smiled, a generous,
loving yet sad and apologetic smile.  “Yes Emily?”

“Where are we?”

His face brightened, “Just away…away from it
all,” he moved towards me and took a seat on the couch beside
me.  He gathered up my feet and tucked my legs over his. 
“I brought you here to rest.  You need to rest and leave all
your worries behind.”

“Mmm, rest,” I grinned at the suggestion and
laid my head back down. 

Herrik leaned over and pulled the blanket
back up to my chin.  “Yes, rest,” he whispered.

I freed one of my hands from beneath the
folds of the blanket which he knowingly took and soothingly
caressed until my breathing relaxed and my heart slowed and my mind
drifted off into a deep, deep sleep. 

I don’t know how long I slept for or whether
or not Herrik was with me the whole time I was resting but he was
thankfully there when I woke. It seemed late and I panicked just
before I opened my eyes believing I was in my apartment and had
overslept and that Artur was expecting me. I threw the covers back
and nearly leapt from the bed.

“Ssh. No. Emily, no,” Herrik gently placed
his hands on my shoulders and looking into my eyes told me to take
it easy, “Relax,” he said, “there is no where you need to be.”

It all slowly came back to me and I
fretfully tried to kick myself away from him. His face fell and I
felt Herrik take hold of me again the way he had when I was trying
to get away from him above the canyon.

“Please calm down Emily. Please don’t make
me do this,” his voice cracked.

“Why? Why should I? You hate me! You all
hate me!”

“Is that really what you think?”

“I…I…no,” I mumbled. I didn’t believe it at
all. I couldn’t keep myself from thinking it though. Herrik’s
expression softened and the smile he gave me was oddly comforting.
He seemed to understand what I was feeling, what I had been
feeling. I knew he was trying to help me and I instinctively
relaxed my guard.

“That’s right,” he nodded. “I do want to
help you. You know we don’t hate you, Emily. You know you only feel
that way because you think you deserve to be hated by us. That you
have betrayed me and Artur and Penny and Avery…and your
family.”

I gasped. He was absolutely right. That was
my biggest regret of all the things that I had done. Putting my
family at risk was the one weighing most heavily on me.

“You don’t have to worry about them, Emily.
I promise you. No harm will ever come to your family as long as you
are safe here with us. They are as constant in my thoughts just as
they are in yours. We have people in all walks of life here and I
have made sure that someone is always watching over them. Some they
call friends and neighbors, others delivery men or women, the
police, teachers. There is never a given moment in any day that I
don’t know they are safe.”

“You’ve done that. For me?”

“Yes,” Herrik assured me in both word and
thought.

The relief this news brought washed over me
and when Herrik saw the tension slip away he released his hold on
me. I threw myself around his neck.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all the mistakes
I’ve made.”

“I’m sorry, too,” his voice was muffled by
my hair. “I gave you my word that I would help you and it seems
that I have more than neglected my promise.”

I was confused by the statement.

“Why didn’t you tell me, or Penny or anyone
how troubled you were?”

“I…I…”

“You haven’t been able to sleep or eat, your
days are filled with fear and your nights plagued by ghosts and
demons. You should have come to me…I wish you had come to me,”
Herrik pried himself loose and sat down beside me. “Do you have any
idea why you’ve been so distraught? Surely you must have realized
that there was something quite unnatural about the way you’ve been
feeling.”

I shook my head.

“No, of course not,” Herrik bit his lip and
sighed. He laid his hand over my heart and cocked his head as
though he was listening to some surreptitious story it was telling.
“It was too much…too much for someone so young. There was still so
much life in you,” he closed his eyes, “and it fought so
valiantly…your life - it still fights. Daemon’s blood should have
killed you…should have crushed that last little ember that it
fought so hard to destroy.”

“What are you saying? Am I dying? Will I be
like you someday?”

“No…no…but Daemon’s blood…it’s still
there…it couldn’t…it can’t take your life but it can encourage you
to take your own. Don’t you see…that’s what it’s done…what it’s
doing?”

“OH!” my eyes went wide with understanding.
It all made some strange supernatural sense. “How…?”

Herrik knew what I was going to ask, “I can
only think of one way, Emily.”

“You need to take it from me…Daemon’s
blood.”

“I’m not sure if it’s possible…but, yes, I
believe it may be the only way.”

I sat with my hands folded in my lap
contemplating what Herrik was suggesting. I looked up and studied
his expression. He seemed nervous; not at all the confident,
imposing man I had grown to think of him as but I trusted him.

“OK,” I said and closed my eyes in
expectation.

Herrik laughed out loud. It surprised me and
smiling I opened my eyes, “What?”

“Not now, Emily. Not like this!”

I shrugged, “Then how?”

“Here,” he clasped my hand in his, “let’s
get you something to eat first and then we’ll talk.”

I wasn’t sure whether I was hungry or not
and worried that whatever Herrik happened to have readily available
wouldn’t be anything worth eating anyway.

“Aww, don’t think like that. I have plenty
of good things to eat.”

I hopped off the bed and let Herrik lead me
to the kitchen. He went straight to the fridge and after peeking in
glanced back to where I was standing, “Breakfast, lunch or
dinner?”

“Oh, what time is it?”

“Does it matter?”

I had to think about it but, “No, I guess
not,” I smiled. “Breakfast.”

“Eggs? Pancakes? Maybe something continental
– a muffin or scone and some fruit?”

“Pancakes,” I raised my eyebrows hopefully,
“chocolate chip?”

“Ah, now you’re talking.”

Herrik began lining things up on the
counter. He was very enthusiastic about the endeavor and talked
animatedly during the entire process. I offered to help but the
most he would let me do is pour a glass of juice for myself.

“Why…” I started to ask.

“Do I have so much food?”

“Yes,” it seemed very odd to me under the
circumstances.

“Well, I do entertain from time to time, not
just my own people but yours, too. And…” he started heating the
skillet he was planning to use, “I like to cook…I like to smell
food cooking…I like it when my apartment smells like…like
home.”

He was surprising me. I would never have
guessed how easy-going and down-to-earth Herrik could be if I
wasn’t actually witnessing it for myself.

“Thank you!” he said.

“Um…”

“Oh, sorry, I forgot myself for a minute
there. I didn’t mean to…you’re so open when you’re happy. That and
I’ve been worried about you. We all have and I…well…I’ve stayed
with you in case you needed me. Is that better?”

Some of the brightness, some of the vivacity
seemed to leave me and everything I saw around me. The calmness I
felt just a moment ago was lost and my heart started to race and
panic. I felt sick to my stomach.

I shook my head nervously, “No…no it’s not
better…”

“Hmm, how about now?”

Everything softened and the queasiness I
felt was swept away. I sighed.

“Maybe we had better wait until after you’ve
had something to eat and are feeling a little stronger. In the
meantime I’ll try to be a little less intrusive and a little more
subtle,” he flashed a bright smile and handed me a plate.

He started piling food on it – some
sausages, fresh fruit and the pancakes which he artfully dusted
with powdered sugar and topped with a dollop of whipped cream.

“Do you think it would be alright to have
some coffee?” I asked full of hope.

“I thought you’d never ask! Here,” he helped
me carry my breakfast to the table and pulled a chair out, “I’ll
make your coffee and be right back. Don’t wait for me – I want to
see half that plate cleared when I get back!”

I dutifully took up my fork and knife and
got to work. By the time he returned there were only a few scraps
of pancake left which I carefully gathered onto my fork and popped
into my mouth. “Those were the best pancakes I’ve ever had! Where
did you learn how to cook like that?”

“My dad mostly. When he was young and
putting himself through college he worked as a short-order cook at
the local diner. My whole family cooked though. My parents both
worked so once we were old enough we took turns making dinner for
the family. Even if it was just beans and franks each of us had to
put something together.”

“Eww! Beans and franks!”

“Or franks and beans if you prefer,” Herrik
chuckled. “I really enjoyed it though, cooking, and put a lot of
effort into it when it was my night to make dinner.”

“Penny cooks a lot.”

“Do you help her?”

“Sometimes…but mostly, no. I’ve been so busy
lately.”

“Well, we’ll see what we can do to change
that. I’ll talk with Artur and Avery to make sure that you have
some time to yourself…” I sipped my coffee and watched his face
expectantly wondering what he was having so much trouble saying
just then. “I’ve thought a great deal about what I can do to help
you, Emily. There are the little things with Penny and Avery and
Artur…this…problem, though, with how you’ve been feeling…if I
can’t…if it doesn’t work.”

“Oh, it has to work! I know it will work!” I
thought about how well I had slept, the peace and serenity I was
feeling, how much I enjoyed breakfast for the first time since I
had arrived at the compound.

“Those are superficial
improvements…temporary, lasting only as long as you are here with
me.”

“Then I’ll stay here with you,” I thought
but didn’t dare say out loud.

Herrik shook his head, “I…I’m sure if you
really considered it you would understand all the reasons why that
could never happen.”

“I know,” I whispered.

“I will do my best,” Herrik assured me with
a smile. “Are you done with your coffee?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

Herrik and I gathered my dirtied dishes and
brought them to the sink. Afterwards he turned to me and took my
hand, “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” my voice came out soft and
nervous.

Herrik brought me to the living room and we
sat down cross-legged and opposite one another on the floor in
front of the fireplace. “I need you to relax, Emily. Look at the
fire, don’t look anywhere else. I will go slowly and if you get too
scared or it is too painful for you just let me know and I will
stop.”

I took a deep breath. Herrik reached for my
hand and brought my wrist to his lips. He gently pierced my skin
and I involuntarily gasped. The pain quickly subsided and it was
replaced by the pressure of the draught he was taking from the open
wound. It was such a strange, erotic sensation.

Usually when you are hurt or wounded the
pain is centralized in that one particular location. This was
different, I could feel Herrik drawing from the punctures but not
only that I could feel the blood rushing from the all the farthest
reaches of my body. It was racing through me and seemed eager,
determined to leave me and join with him.

It both frightened and elated me. I wanted
to beg him to stop but I was too mesmerized by the sensation
coupled with the rhythmic beating of our hearts echoing softly
together in the background. They seemed to be in perfect unison and
I wondered if it was his matching mine or the other way around.
Just when I thought I might fall faint my wrist began to throb and
it snapped me back to my senses.

“Herrik. Herrik, please. You’re hurting
me.”

He stood up abruptly releasing me as he did,
“Oh, God!  I’m sorry!” he wiped his mouth with the back of his
hand.  His eyes were wild with grief as he bent over me and
helped me up, “I’m sorry, Emily, so sorry. I was being so careful,”
he sobbed into the back of my hair as he held me close.

“It’s OK,” I mumbled.  “I’m OK.”

Herrik stepped back and tenderly inspected
me.  He ran his fingers over the livid wound on my wrist then
nipped his fingertip and smoothed a few drops of his blood over the
punctures. It was cold, so cold, where he touched me but then a
slow warmth crept across my wrist and as the heat spread and
intensified the wounds started working themselves closed and a
moment later there was no trace of what Herrik had done to me.

I smiled and thought to myself how nice it
would be if he could heal my heart and my head so easily. Herrik
smiled back and I briefly wondered if he had somehow heard me.

Afterwards he gently took my chin and turned
my face so he could look in my eyes. Herrik was radiating with
vitality; he seemed vastly different than he had a few moments ago.
It was hard to look at him, shameful it seemed, to see him
so…so…transcendent and otherworldly. I felt weak and frail as he
searched for some indication as to whether or not he had succeeded
in purging enough of Daemon’s blood for me to feel any relief from
the anguish that had been plaguing me.

I felt him withdrawing. His soft, comforting
presence that had helped me rest so well and banished all the fear
and worry that had been tormenting my every waking moment slipped
away.

“How do you feel?”

“I…I…” and that was the last thing I
remember.

“Herrik?” I woke slowly, painfully.
“Herrik?”

He didn’t answer and when I managed to sit
up so I could look around to find him I realized that I was somehow
in the cabin again. It was utterly quiet. The fire had died down
and the room had grown cold. When I looked out the window I noticed
that it was still snowing and the sun was beginning to set which
made the room look and feel darker than it actually was.