Heart Burn

Heart Burn

(Book 3 of the 1st Freak House Series)

C.J. Archer

Copyright 2013 C.J. Archer

Visit C.J. at
http://cjarcher.com

CHAPTER 1

Frakingham House, Hertfordshire, December 1888

What young lady didn't love to attend balls? Particularly ones held in the glittering London residence of a nobleman?

This girl, that's who.

Ever since the invitation had come from our new friend, Mrs. Beaufort, I'd dreaded going. I'd never been to a ball, never attended a soiree, assembly or the theater. It's difficult to make your debut while locked in an attic. What made my anxiety worse was knowing that I didn't deserve to attend—I was a nobody with both feet firmly on the lowest rung of society's ladder. All the other guests would be so grand and important, like the Beauforts themselves. I kept sneaking peeks at the invitation to check whether it was a mistake, but there was my name in bold, sweeping strokes: Hannah Smith.

My friend, Sylvia Langley, was not so worried. She twirled around the entrance hall of Frakingham House, humming a tune she claimed was a waltz, but sounded more like a hive of angry bees. She'd tried teaching me the steps, but gave up after I stood on her toes for the fifth time. Dancing was not one of my talents.

I didn't mind sitting out while she practiced alone. I was too tired to put much effort into the activity, and it was pleasure enough watching Sylvia. She positively glowed with happiness, even when she'd tried to explain the etiquette of balls over and over to me. I simply couldn't remember half of the rules, but that was probably because my mind was elsewhere. One's pending death can be a distraction.

The heat inside me was slowly killing me, consuming my energy so that I was often exhausted and feverishly hot. Dancing certainly didn't help, which might explain why Sylvia didn't pressure me too much. I did wonder if she was in some sort of denial over my health as well as other horrible events that had occurred recently. She seemed too positive considering all that had passed in the last week.

Aside from learning that the compound injected into me as a baby was destroying me, two men had died on the estate, others injured and we'd killed not one but two demons. It was just like Sylvia to put all of that to the back of her mind and focus on something fun. She had a tendency to want her problems to magically disappear.

I couldn't blame her. I would have liked to forget it all too. Only I couldn't. Not when heat swirled through me like a fire and a madman named Reuben Tate wanted to abduct and experiment on me. He hadn't tried since the day we'd destroyed his demon assistant, Ham, but none of us at Frakingham assumed he'd given up. That's why I'd been confined to the house under the constant guard of Jack Langley. Jack had taken it upon himself to be my champion. I was rather pleased about it, to be honest. I liked being near him, talking to him, watching him.

It was
he
who'd been watching
me
, however. He stood in the arched doorway, one shoulder leaning against the frame, his arms crossed. He had the sort of face that made women look twice as he passed, and a physique built for power and speed.

The chiseled edges of his jaw and cheekbones were softened somewhat by the curved lips and dark lashes surrounding sea-green eyes. Usually those lips were set with determination, but now they smiled at me. Indeed, he looked relaxed, amused almost. He must have witnessed my attempts at dancing. How positively humiliating.

"How long have you been there?" I asked as he approached.

"Long enough to see how light you are on your feet."

"The bruises on Sylvia's toes would prove otherwise."

"She ought to keep them out of the way." He tilted his head to the side and frowned at his cousin. "What
is
she doing?"

"I'm dancing." Sylvia stopped in the center of the hall. Her full skirt swayed around her until it settled into perfect lines once more. Everything about Sylvia was perfect, from her golden hair and pretty face to her full bust and rim waist. She could be trying at times, and a little silly, but I enjoyed her company overall. "You are a philistine, Jack. Have you ever danced the waltz?"

"Have you ever seen me attend a ball?" he countered.

She tossed her blonde curls. "No."

"Well then, the conclusion would be that I've never danced the waltz. Which, I might add, you haven't either." He leaned closer to me, but we did not touch. We couldn't. We were both fire starters, and when our heat combined in passion, it became overwhelming. Intimacy led to sparks and a sensation within that I likened to my blood boiling. "I'm not sure she's the best teacher on the subject, Hannah."

"Better than you," Sylvia said, hand on hip.

I laughed. I enjoyed their teasing. It was never malicious. I knew they cared for one another as any true cousins would, despite it recently coming to light that they weren't related at all.

"If you've never been to a ball, Sylvia, how do you know all of these rules and dances?" I asked.

"I learned to waltz from a dancing master. As to the rules, the
Young
Ladies Journal
has been a great source of information."

"You learned everything about balls from a periodical?" Jack scoffed.

"And my dancing master."

"I remember him. A small fellow with a false French accent."

"It was not false! Monsieur Bourgogne was from
Paris
," Sylvia said with a sniff.

"His accent was atrocious."

"Are you an expert on the French now? My my, haven't we come a long way from the gutters of London." She must have realized she'd spoken out of turn because she bit her lip.

Beside me, Jack seemed unfazed at the mention of his street urchin roots. He knew that it didn't bother me, and I was beginning to think it no longer bothered him like it used to. I liked that he'd accepted it as being a part of the man he'd become and not something that could be flicked off like an insect on the skin.

Sylvia signaled for him to join her. "I need a male partner."

"Perhaps Samuel can oblige," Jack said. "I'm busy."

"You are not. You're sitting there criticizing my dancing and poor Monsieur Bourgogne."

"Actually, I'm leaving."

"Oh?" I said. "Where are you going?"

"Into the village to see Mrs. Mott."

Mrs. Mott was the widow of the builder who'd recently died at the hands of a demon just outside the house. Although simply saying he died didn't convey the ghastliness of the situation. It would be more correct to say he was eaten. He and his colleagues had been working on the renovations to the house and uncovered a lost medieval dungeon from which the demon had emerged. Someone must have summoned it from the Otherworld, and since Mott had been closest to the dungeon and shown little fear or surprise, we assumed it had been him. He couldn't have done it without help, though. Not only did he bear us no grudge, but it was unlikely that he'd discovered how to summon a demon and gotten a hold of a cursed amulet himself. He must have had an associate, one with sound knowledge of demons.

Hopefully Mrs. Mott could tell us who. We'd decided to wait until the initial shock of his death had worn off before paying her a visit. We were in no hurry now that Jack had killed the demon. The amulet that had been used to summon it was also broken and useless, so it was unlikely Mott's accomplice would unleash another demon on us so soon.

The only urgency now was finding a cure for my condition. August Langley was working day and night. We'd hardly seen Sylvia's uncle or his assistant, Bollard, for days. Nor had we seen any sign of Reuben Tate, although I didn't think he'd given up trying to kidnap me. He was dying too, and dying people were desperate. I would know. I'd stood countless times outside Langley's door, trying to listen through the wood for any signs that the microbiologist was getting closer to discovering a cure. It took all my waning energy to not interrupt him every half hour.

"I'm coming with you," I said, standing.

Jack shook his head. "Stay here and rest."

"I need to get out of the house or I'll go mad."

"You
need
to rest."

Having a champion might be wonderful at times, but it could also be stifling. I adored Jack, and I knew he cared deeply for me, but my nerves were stretched to the limit. I supposed it was inevitable that I'd find confinement difficult after being released from the attic of Windamere Manor. I was like a jack-in-the-box toy. Once the lid opened and the jack released, stuffing him back inside the box wasn't the easiest of tasks.

"Jack," I said, trying for a gentle yet insistent voice similar to what I'd heard Samuel use when hypnotizing someone. "I need a distraction from…" I sighed and waved a hand at my body to get my point across.

He closed his eyes, and for a moment I worried that I'd taken it too far and only served to remind him of his troubles. I went to touch his arm, but withdrew my hand when it grew hot.

"Very well." He opened his eyes. They were filled with shadows that were there much too often of late. "You may come. Sylvia, I suppose you wish to come too as chaperone."

She gave an inelegant snort. "Don't be absurd. I've seen you two kissing in the lake. You're beyond worrying about appearances. Besides, it's cold outside."

I blushed to the tips of my ears. I should have guessed that she'd seen us. Jack and I had discovered we could touch each other in the freezing waters of the lake, although there was a limit to how…intimate we could get. Kissing was as far as we'd taken our relationship. I was well aware that propriety forbade even that, and I was surprised that Sylvia hadn't admonished us in her self-appointed role as my chaperone.

Then again, there were so few visitors to Frakingham that no one would see, and perhaps she thought a dying girl didn't have to follow the same rules as everybody else. It was certainly how I felt about the situation.

Jack winked at me. "We'll be all the poorer for your lack of company, Syl."

"Don't tease me, or I'll come just to spite you," she said. "Now wouldn't that put a dent in your plans to whisper sweet sentiments in Hannah's ear?"

He ignored her and turned to me. "Ready, Hannah?"

I rose just as Tommy the footman walked in carrying a vase of flowers with one hand. He set them down on the marble-topped table near the door and was about to walk out again when I spoke.

"Good morning, Tommy. How's your head?"

He touched the lump on his forehead. It had diminished in size, and the color wasn't quite so purple, but it still looked angry. He'd acquired the lump and a sore arm from Ham when he attempted to stop the demon from kidnapping me. "Much better, thank you, Miss Smith."

I rolled my eyes at him but did not tell him to call me Hannah like I used to do. I'd discovered that even though Tommy and Jack's friendship went back several years, he kept up a formal facade when he was in the presence of anyone else in the household. I'd tried on numerous occasions to get him to address me by my given name, but had failed every time.

"I have an idea," Jack said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Syl, why not practice your dancing with Tommy? You did say you needed a male partner."

"Don't be absurd." She screwed up her nose. "He's a servant." Sylvia might be sweet most of the time, but she was of the belief that servants and their employers shouldn't mix, nor should the staff have an opinion or a thought that didn't center around their duties. She and her uncle agreed on this.

"I'm quite sure that doesn't mean he can't dance," Jack said, brows raised at his friend in question.

"I can dance," Tommy said somewhat apologetically.

"The waltz?" Sylvia asked.

Tommy shook his head and rubbed his sore arm, as if that were the reason for his lack of dancing ability. Of course a man like Tommy wouldn't know how to waltz. Like Jack, he would never have had the opportunity to learn.

Sylvia tilted her chin, apparently oblivious to his discomfort. "Samuel will know how to dance with a lady."

"I'll fetch him," Tommy said quickly. He left before anyone could stop him.

Sylvia sucked in her lower lip and blinked after him.

"Do you have to be so cutting?" Jack scolded her. "He's protected you on more than one occasion. He deserves some respect."

Her blinking became more rapid and for a brief moment, I thought she was going to cry. Then the shadows passed from her eyes, and she thrust out that regal chin of hers even more. "He knows I appreciate his efforts in that regard."

"Does he?" Jack muttered.

"My opinion stands, however. He does not know how to waltz. Samuel does. I don't see how telling the truth can be construed as disrespectful."

"We'd better go," I said before Jack could berate her further and make the situation worse.

***

We traveled by coach to Harborough, driven by the new driver who'd replaced the deceased Olsen. Jack rode opposite me in the cabin, our knees close by not touching. We wore hats and gloves despite not needing them with our internal fires to keep us warm. It would have looked strange to the villagers to see us out in the depths of winter without them. We wanted to keep knowledge of our supernatural abilities confined to members of the household. It was bad enough that the Harborough residents called Frakingham 'Freak House' because of Langley's disability and Bollard's muteness. We didn't want to give them any more reasons to be wary of us. We'd managed to convince them that the recent deaths had been caused by wild dogs, but it had not lessened their distrust of us. Indeed, we'd found it difficult to get the servants to return to work until Jack had increased their salaries.