Entralled (2 page)

"Smell him," commanded the thin man beside her. "If he
has already been with Celeste, he will no longer have any odour. He
will be like her. No smell."

That made a mad kind of sense, thought Abigail, as she remembered the
grass which had no smell. She leaned over him and sniffed. It was
still Caden, she could smell his soap and aftershave. And him. She
could smell him.

Caden bared his teeth and growled at her. "Where is Celeste?"
he demanded, gripping her wrist and squeezing hard.

"I don't know, Caden," sighed Abigail.

And if I did, I wouldn't tell you
.

He released her wrist and she fell backwards a little. Caden got up,
pacing like she had been a few moments ago.

"You must leave until tonight," said the thin man. "It's
dangerous for you here."

"What do you mean?" asked Abigail.

"Celeste has touched him. He burns with the fever. If he can't
have her, he may – hurt you."

Abigail stared at him. He couldn't mean that. She couldn't believe
that Caden would hurt her like that, Celeste or no Celeste.

"Celeste!" roared Caden and pounded his fists against the
wall of the cave. Small rocks fell where he pounded and Abigail
realised then how much stronger he was, how much more bigger he was
than her.

He could hurt her if he really wanted to.

"Go!" urged the man. "Come back at sunset!"

"How do I know when sunset is?"

"You'll hear the horns for the Hunt."

"The Hunt?" Abigail didn't like the sound of that.

"They will hunt him tonight," he said. "But you must
be brave. You must hold him until daybreak, then you will both be
free. No matter what happens, do not let him go."

"I won't," said Abigail as she turned to leave. She was
suddenly grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground, jarring her
hip and she moaned in pain. Caden sat on top of her, his legs on her
sore hips, pinning her arms behind her head.

He looked wild, his blue eyes bright with madness and a feral grin on
his mouth, his teeth bared like fangs. Abigail was sure her heart had
stopped.

He bent down and kissed her roughly, teeth scraping at her lips. She
tasted blood, hot and metallic as it flowed into her mouth. His hand
wandered down and squeezed her breast. She broke away from the kiss
and turned her head, silent tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Caden, don't," she pleaded. This wasn't how it was
supposed to happen. There was meant to me soft music and candles, not
Caden crazed with lust on the dusty and cold floor of a cave.

The man tried to move Caden off her, but Caden swung out and knocked
him senseless to the floor. He hardly moved and Abigail wondered if
Caden had killed him. She tried to struggle, tried to get out of his
grasp, but Caden was too strong. She felt his erection press into her
stomach and he ground himself into her.

"So soft," he whispered, almost gentle. "You're so
soft."

"Caden, stop, this isn't you," said Abigail. "Don't
you know me? It's me. Abigail."

"Abigail," he rolled the word around in his mouth as though
trying it out for size. "Abigail," he said again and this
time there was a question there too. "Abigail? Abigail? Oh my
God! What have I done?"

He stood up and she was free. She felt weak and shaken, but the one
person she wanted comfort from was the one who had attacked her and
she sobbed, feeling it erupt from somewhere deep inside her.

In the distance a horn sounded and the thin man woke up.

"Remember. Hold him until sunrise," he whispered and then
he was gone, just vanished into thin air.

"Abigail? What's going on?"

Abigail rushed to his side and grabbed his hand. "Come on, we
have to get out of here." His leg was completely healed now and
Abigail wondered what other magic Celeste would use on them.

As they emerged from the cave, they were surrounded by all of Faery
arrayed on horseback. Some of the horses had wings and were hovering
a foot off the ground. Abigail thought she might faint from the
knowledge of it. Everything was too strange, too wondrous and she had
to consciously remember to keep holding Caden.

"Let go of our prey," commanded Celeste.

"If I hold him until sunrise, he's mine," said Abigail
defiantly.

"Who told you that?" demanded Linden. "It was him
wasn't it? The rhymer? Where is he?"

"Let's see if you can hold him now," said Celeste and waved
her hands in Caden's direction. Abigail was no longer holding Caden,
instead she held a lion by its paw. It roared in anger, saliva
dripping saliva from its mouth but by sheer will she held on. Caden
was lost if she let go.

The trial went on, Celeste turning Caden into all manner of
creatures, a wolf, a snake, a shark, but still Abigail held on. She
knew that Caden's life depended on it.

He was back as Caden and Celeste waved her arms again. Nothing
happened. She cursed angrily.

"It is the sun," said Linden. "We must go back. You
have lost this one."

"NO!" shrieked Celeste and she rounded on her brother,
punching him in the chest. He rocked her gently and then he and the
others faded from sight, vanishing into the early morning mist.

Abigail glanced around them. They were on a hill, inside a circle of
toadstools, what her grandmother used to call a fairy fort.

She stood up and moved out of the circle. Caden followed her, a frown
of confusion on his face.

"Abigail? What happened?" He glanced at her bruised wrists.
"I did that?"

"It's okay Caden. You weren't yourself."

"Who was I then?" he asked bitterly and Abigail knew that
no matter what she told him, he would still blame himself for hurting
her. It wasn't his fault, how could she make him realise that?

She sat down beside him, resting her arms against her knees.

"Abigail, how could I do that to you? How could I?"

"It's all right, Caden. It's all right," she said again.
Maybe if she said it often enough he would believe her.

"How can you say that, Abigail? After what I did? I almost raped
you for God's sake!"

"But you didn't," she said quietly and he turned to look at
her.

"No, I didn't," he agreed sadly.

"Why did you stop?" she whispered, afraid to know the
answer.

"Because - because I didn't want our first time to be like
that."

Her throat constricted and she tried to swallow around the golf ball
that had lodged there.

"What did you say?"

"I think you know what I said, Abigail."

"Yes, I do," she nodded at him and smiled, reaching out for
his hand.

Part
Two

Six
Months Later

She knew
it was bad news even before she answered the phone. Good news just
wasn't issued at three o'clock in the morning. She barely heard the
voice on the other end of the phone but some words she caught.
Caden.
Hospital
.

Abigail called a cab dressed quickly in a pale blue sweater and a
pair of jeans. She was shaking so much she didn't trust herself to
drive. This was the third time Caden had been admitted to the
hospital in as many months, suffering from seizures that no doctor
could find a reason for.

He'd been poked and prodded, given every test modern medicine could
devise, but nothing came up in any of them. Abigail didn't think
they'd find the cause of his illness in any modern science, nor the
cure for it. What ailed Caden was older than that, a lot older.

Matthew, Caden's brother, was pacing up and down in the waiting room
when she arrived at the hospital. He gave her the sympathetic glance
that she'd come to know ever since Caden had started showing
symptoms.

"What room is he in?" She wasn't in the mood for small
talk, she had to see him as soon as possible.

"405," replied Matthew. "But I don't think you should
go in there, Abigail." Was he going to turn her away because
she wasn't family? Now, with Caden so ill? They weren't married yet,
and the engagement ring on her hand felt heavy with the knowledge
that it was useless. Engaged didn't mean family. She wasn't even
listed as Caden's next of kin. Not yet. Why hadn't they married
sooner?

"He's being treated. He has a very bad fever, they're trying to
bring it down," said Matthew. "We'd only be in the way."

Abigail didn't hear the rest as she dashed down the corridor to
Caden's room. Caden was lying in the bed, leather restraints on his
wrists and ankles. He was naked except for a pair of white boxer
shorts.

There was a large bucket of iced water on the floor and two nurses
were sponging him down. He struggled against the restraints and she
wasn't sure whether his hair was wet from the water or from sweat.

A doctor was busy taking notes and not even looking at Caden. As if
Caden was nothing more than a chore. As if he didn't even care.

"Help him!" demanded Abigail and the doctor peered at her
over the rim of his glasses.

"Who are you?" he asked imperiously.

"Detective Abigail Harte. We're engaged. He's my partner."
And my everything
.

"Pardon?" asked the doctor and Abigail realised she'd said
that last bit out loud.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Abigail, calmer now.

"I'm sorry, we just don't know," replied the doctor,
referring once again to his notes. Abigail felt like ripping the
clipboard from his hands and throwing it across the room. She just
felt so helpless, so useless. Surely there must be something she
could do? She wished now she'd trained as a doctor instead of a
detective.

Suddenly the door to Caden's room was thrust open, revealing Matthew
in a struggle with a rather thin man. The man's hair was sticking up,
as though he had just been dragged through a bush. His eyes were
wild, darting about the room until they came to rest on Abigail.

"You," she gasped. "You were there."

"Yes. We both know what ails him," replied the stranger. On
the bed, Caden groaned and shrieked a word that chilled Abigail to
the bone.

"CELESTE!"

*

It took some fast talking on Abigail's apart to convince Matthew that
she would be perfectly safe taking this strange man home to her
apartment.

"Did you ever tell me your name?" asked Abigail. "I'm
sorry. I can't remember it."

"It is Tom," said the man, staring with awe at her light
switch. He waved a hand towards it but refrained from touching it.
"What magic is this? That light obeys your will? Are you a god?"

"No, it's electricity. Like lightning."

"You can control lightning? Then surely you must be a god!"

"Please, Tom, just drop it. I am not a god. I only want to help
him. What's wrong with him and how can I fix it."

"You cannot. You know what ails him and you know that you are
not the means to save him. He burns for Celeste. There is no other
cure."

"There must be! Why else are you here?"

"Linden sent me to fetch you."

"Then he knows of a cure?"

"There is only one cure and you will not like it."

"Tell me!" roared Abigail and backed hom against the wall.
He was so thin that one hand was enough. She dropped her hand,
ashamed. "I'm sorry."

"I understand. He means everything to you, yes? That is why you
will not want to hear me. It will break your heart."

"But it will cure Caden?" she dared not hope. Tom nodded.

"The only cure for the fever is for Celeste to claim him as her
own. He must lie with her."

Abigail felt icy fingers dance up and down her spine.

"If Caden sleeps with Celeste, he will be cured?"

"Yes. He will be cured."

"But what? I hear a but in there."

"If he lies with Celeste, he will no longer be part of your
world. He will be part of theirs and you will never see him again."

"And if he doesn't sleep with her?"

"Then the fevers will get more frequent, more intense until his
body can take no more and he will die."

It was a choice but not a choice. Do nothing and watch Caden die
slowly before her eyes or take him to Celeste and lose him forever?
Neither choice had much appeal, and which would Caden want? Was he
really in love with Celeste or was it just a spell? And if it was a
spell, where could she find the means to break it?

The phone rang startling Abigail almost as much as Tom. She picked
up, silencing the bell in mid ring. "Detective Harte? It's Dr.
Johnson. Caden has been asking for you."

"I'll be right there," said Abigail as she hung up. "Tom.
It's okay. He's okay." Tom just stared as he followed her out
the door.

*

"God,
Abigail! Am I glad to see you!" Caden held out his arms and she
ran to hug him. "What happened? Everything's so fuzzy with all
the meds they keep pumping into me." Abigail felt him shift as
he glanced around her.

"Do I know you?" he asked, furrowing his brow and staring
at Tom.

"We met some time ago. In Faerie."

Caden pushed Abigail away from him. "Abigail! I thought I could
trust you! Why did you bring one of them here?"

"He's human. He isn't one of them. But they're the only ones who
can break the spell. You have to go back, Caden."

"NO! No, Abigail! I can't!"

"You can, Caden. You can." Abigail squeezed his hand.

"I can't. I won't be able to resist her this time and then I'll
lose you. I won't risk it."

"You're strong, Caden. Stronger than any of them. And I'll be
with you the whole time. You didn't think I was going to let you go
alone?"

"You're an angel, Abigail," said Caden as he kissed her
hand.

"They won't be able to fight both of us," insisted Abigail.

Tom shook his head, muttering, "Fools, fools," but neither
of them seemed to hear him.

*

"Are
you sure this is one of the Faery portals?" asked Caden, giving
his head a scratch. They were in the basement facing a broom closet.
Caden and Abigail had been down this hall so many times and they
never knew that their office was so close to a portal to another
world.