Relic (The Brethren Series) (15 page)

“Unresolved issues. You bet your sweet ass I’ve got unresolved issues. Thank goodness she’s coming. She’ll be a huge help.” Serena looked at the clock on the wall. “You know, it’s nearly lunchtime. Do you think you could make us some lunch while I go clean up in the bedroom and bath?”

“Sure thing.” He brushed a kiss across her forehead. “Soup and sandwiches sound good to you?”

“Sounds perfect.” She smiled sweetly.

***

They walked arm in arm as far as the kitchen, where the house branched off to the sleeping wing. Serena dropped the sweet smile act as soon as Raphael turned into the kitchen. As she continued down the hall, the simmering fury heated to its boiling point. Knowing Bull lingered so close sent her mind spinning off in dangerous directions, and she acted on those dark, malevolent impulses. After tidying up the bedroom quickly, she stopped by the study. She had a mission and nothing left to lose.

“Going out for some fresh air!” she called out to Raphael in as wholesome a voice as she could feign. “I’ll be right back!” She didn’t wait for a response.

Opportunity had knocked on her door, literally, and now she would take advantage of it. She strolled over to the garage and opened the door without hesitation. “Hello, Kemuel.” She batted her eyes. “How is our
guest
doing?”

“Hey, Serena. He’s a royal pain in the ass, and if he keeps it up much longer, I’m gonna have to get tough on him. You really shouldn’t be here, though. You don’t need to see this. Does Raphael know you’re here?”

“He knows I went out,” she evaded.

“Come to visit me, lover?” Bull taunted. She ignored him. Kemuel lifted his arm, fist ready to inflict a punishing blow, but she stayed his hand.

“Kemuel, I’d like to talk to Bull, alone.”

“No way, lady. Are you nuts?”

“Is he secured? Can he harm me physically in his present state?” she argued logically.

“Well, no. He’s got Brethren shackles on him, so no, he can’t do shit.”

“So the only thing he can do is talk, and his words can’t harm me. That’s all I want to do is talk. We have some loose ends to tie up. Please?” She counted on his good sense being no match for her mesmerizing eyes.

“I’ll be right outside the door. Five minutes, Serena. Whatever you have to say, you got five minutes.”

“Thank you. I appreciate your flexibility.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t see Raphael being too happy about this, but it’s your game. And as for you….” He turned to Bull and gave him a punch across his face before walking out of the garage. Bull cursed and gave a sinister, defiant chuckle.

“So you finally realized you couldn’t live without me, bitch?” Bull spat more blood on the ground. “You missed my body lying on top of you, whore? Dr. Chappo got it all wrong. He don’t know a goddess from a Jezebel. Aren’t you the least bit curious why I want you dead, Jezebel?”

“Shut up,” Serena ordered coldly and in a voice unfamiliar even to herself. She brandished the letter opener hidden in her shorts pocket, walked up to Bull, and placed the point of it right on his manhood. He sat up a little taller. She looked him straight in the eyes and shivered to see in them what she knew to be pure evil.

“You see, there you go, teasing me with rough foreplay. And I bet you’re not gonna follow through. Just like my mother, a Jezebel. You ain’t no goddess.”

“I said shut up, you worthless piece of scum, and listen. I don’t give a rat’s ass why you targeted me, or if you grew up abused by your parents, or even left on the streets to rot. I don’t care if you never felt loved or if you have some depraved, repressed sexual issues. You had no right to hunt me down like an animal. But I’m no longer your prey, you hear? You’re in my territory now, and you’re
my
prey. By the looks of it, you’ve been caught, and now I get to play with you. How’s that for tables being turned? And oh, so sorry, but no one’s here to help you. So where should I begin, hmm?”

She traced the point of the letter opener up and down his thighs and back to center. She tapped resolutely, once there. He sucked in a breath and she watched him get hard.

“I know, I think I’ll tell you a story. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. It’s a short story, so listen carefully. There will be a question after. Once upon a time, there lived a girl who dreamed of running her own business, getting married, and having a large family. But one day, an evil man—that would be you—and his evil friends decided it would be fun to play soccer with the girl’s body. They kicked her and punched her like a piece garbage on the ground. The cowards left her in the desert to die, but the funny thing about it, she didn’t.”

Serena began walking around him, trailing the letter opener up one arm and around his neck. She stopped right at his jugular. “She survived, barely, thanks to the kindness of a stranger. But it was too late to save everything about her. In fact, one of her dreams had been killed that day in the desert. The end. Now for the question, and there is only one, so I hope you were listening or the penalty will be severe. What did you kill, Bull? What did you kill? Tick tock on the clock, you get three seconds to figure it out. One, two, three. Ooh sorry, times up, you lose. Would you like to know the answer, Bull? Nod your head or we’ll have dick on a stick for lunch today.” He nodded slowly with a wry smile on his face.

“Well, you see, I do own my own business and that’s still alive, so that can’t be the answer. I’m single so I can still marry when I find the right guy, so that can’t be it either. Hmm, that leaves my dreams of having a large family, doesn’t it? Nod Bull.” He nodded.

She moved beside him, letter opener lightly resting against his privates again, and leaned in so close she could feel the heat pouring off him in waves and smell the rancid odor of blood and sweat. “Good boy.”

***

Raphael walked over to Kemuel, bringing a sandwich for him. He opened his mouth to ask why he stood outside when they both heard a crash from within the garage. Raphael suddenly sensed Serena’s deep anguish and fury explode along their tethered threads.

“Tell me she’s not in there, Kemuel!” Raphael shouted, dropping the sandwich and grabbing at his collar. He released his friend, and they both dashed in.

“Your kicks,” Raphael heard her shout, and saw her shove Bull so hard that the chair fell over and he clocked his head against the floor. “And your punches,” she tossed out, landing blow upon blow on his defenseless body, seemingly oblivious to everything else, “killed any chance of my having children! You son of a bitch! You Devil’s spawn! I hate you! I hate you! You should be sent back to Hell where you came from!”

It took both men to overtake the shrieking woman, given her maddened state. She exhibited the strength like that of two people, not one. She had actually rendered Bull unconscious.

“Let me go! Let me go! He needs to die! He needs to be sent back to Hell!” Serena screamed, struggling to be free. Her eyes were dilated, and her gaze darted about frantically.

“We know, Serena. He will. Kemuel will see to it, won’t you?” Raphael placated. Serena’s temporary insanity soared down their threaded connection and threatened to disable him as well, and he fought like hell to not get caught up in her mania. But he could feel himself going under, right beside her.

“Yes, Serena. That’s the plan,” Kemuel added. “Send him straight back to Hell.”

“I want to see you do it,” she wailed at the still figure on the floor. “I have to see you do it. He killed my future! He killed me!”

“Do it, now. She can’t take any more of this, and neither can I. Swift and permanent, my brother. Send him back.”

Without so much as a word or uncertain expression on his face, Kemuel righted Bull’s chair. He took his warrior’s sword out of its sheath and closed his eyes as he spoke the prayer inscribed on its blade causing it to glow. With his aim sure, strength unmatched, and sword true to its mark, in less than a second, Bull had been slashed in two and sent to Hell.

“I’ll call for the clean-up crew.” He replaced his sword back in its sheath, Bull’s blood having soaked into the inscription and disappeared.

Raphael’s hands wrapped around Serena’s arms like shackles. She looked down at her own hands. They were bloodied, and she tried wiping them off on her shirt. Her hair, a frenzy of tangled curls, had made a web about her face while she had been punishing Bull, and now there were tinges of red on some of the strands.

“Thank you, Kemuel,” she said stoically. “Raphael, I’m dirty. I need to clean up. I’ll just go inside and clean up.”

“Okay, I’ll help you, sweetheart.” Raphael coughed as his words kept sticking in his throat and the shared madness slowly seeped out and away.

“You’ll help me. I’m dirty, Raphael. I’m so dirty. When I’m clean, he’ll be gone forever.”

“Yes, dearest, he’ll be gone forever.”

Raphael waited for Serena to move, but she stood there, glued to her place. He wound up escorting her to the bathroom, directing her along the way. He got the shower running, undressed her, and stepped into the shower with her. He started with her hair, massaging the fragrant shampoo into her scalp. She stared blankly at him and past him. He tilted her head back to rinse, and she didn’t even close her eyes. He worked his way down her body, using the calming herbal body wash Emma had left for her to use. He took his time making sure all remnants of Bull’s blood had been washed clear away.

He spent the most time on Serena’s hands, massaging and scrubbing, and while he did this, he spoke of anything and everything that would get her to respond. And when he ran out of things to say, he sang to her songs from centuries ago. Songs he had sung to Sirona, all in an attempt to keep Serena from slipping further away.

While doing so, Raphael cursed himself and his ineptitude. She could be free of this trauma if it weren’t for his failure as a Savior! Emma so much as told him so before she left. She had sensed a duality within Serena that integrally entwined with him. Serena’s well-being rested in his hands. But how on earth could he heal her without his powers? He turned off the water and toweled her dry. He carried her to the bed where he laid her upon the mountains of blankets. When he finished dressing her in her nightgown, he caressed her cheek. She remained unresponsive but for a single tear that made a slow, determined trail down her cheek.

Dear Lord. She’s kept this dreadful prognosis of not being able to have children all to herself. This is why she ran from me after making love. This is why she thought she had no future to give
. She simply hadn’t realized that Emma’s healing would have healed everything that had ever been wrong with her, not just her ribs, kidneys and spleen. She most definitely
could
have children, and quite possibly, they’d already created a child together!

Chapter Eighteen

I could be a father
. Raphael stood dumbfounded at the notion.
I could be a father, and there lies the woman who could be the mother of my child, despondent, broken, and an empty shell.
He couldn’t let this go on a moment longer.

“Serena.” He sat gently on the bed beside her. “Serena, you must know something very important. You must listen, Serena. You can still have children. Did you hear me? You were healed of everything wrong with you. Emma saw to that. So you can have the children you’ve been dreaming of, Serena.”

She lay motionless, her stare devoid of all acknowledgment of Raphael’s presence. “Serena!” Raphael grasped her shoulders and shook her. “Serena! You’ve got to listen to me. You’ve got to snap out of this, sweetheart.” He grabbed her in a furious embrace that brought back tragic memories of holding Sirona in the same desperate way. Fear gripped him and frustration churned. He didn’t know what else to say or do. Someone knocked on the bedroom door. He gently laid her back down, and he rose to answer it.

“Hey, Raf, some lady’s here. She says she’s Serena’s spiritual healer. Her name’s Monica something, uh, Rainbow….” Kemuel scratched his head.

“Rainchild, Monica Rainchild,” offered Raphael impatiently. “Thank goodness.”

“Yeah, that’s it! Should I send her in here or do you want to meet with her first?”

“I’ll meet with her first, tell her what’s happened. We’ll proceed from there. In the meantime, Kem, get together with Gabriel to locate the other assholes working for Chappo. If we can find them, they can lead us to him.”

“I’m on it, brother.”

Raphael walked back over to Serena, who hadn’t moved a muscle. “I’ll be right back, sweetheart. Monica Rainchild is here to help you. But you’ve got to want it. You’ve got to want to come back to the living. Please, come back.”

To me
, he thought privately.
Come back to me
. He kissed her forehead and walked quietly out.

Raphael went blustering down the hallway like a storm, raking his hands through his hair and muttering to himself. Monica Rainchild stood calmly, waiting for him to join her.

She extended a hand. “Hello, you must be Raphael. I’m Monica Rainchild, Serena’s spiritual healer.”

“Hi, thank you so much for coming here. She really needs you. We both do. Let’s sit down and I’ll fill you in.”

They sat together on the couch, and he told her about the attack on Serena and the damage it had done to her physically and emotionally. He told her about Emma, insofar as her extraordinary healing abilities went, and what she could accomplish for Serena. That bit of information didn’t even command a raised eyebrow from Monica, for which Raphael breathed easier. He explained how Serena had been told she couldn’t have children due to the severity of her injuries, and that she’d been under the impression Emma’s healing hadn’t changed that. He couldn’t share about her going off on Bull, however. No one other than Kemuel and he could ever know.

“She never let on the extent of her upset over the injuries. And now, she’s degenerated into a nonresponsive condition, which I’m afraid she’ll never come out of. You’ve got to help her, Monica. You’re my only hope.” He succumbed to feelings of helplessness; a desperate man at the end of his rope.