[excerpt] (7 page)

The unexpected knock on the door startled Raven. What could her two boys want or have forgotten, she wondered. Raven opened the door and took a step back. In the hallway, with a starved barracuda-toothed grin upon his face, Xavier lurked.

Her voice cracked, “Xavier? ’Ello. What can I do for you?” An uneasy feeling punched Raven in the very pit of her stomach. His cold, lifeless eyes gave her a morose feeling. Xavier didn’t look right, not that he ever did, but this night he had more of a disheveled appearance. She thought about slamming the door in his face and locking it, but poor judgment gave way. For a moment, she felt foolish. This man had never been anything but a gentleman to her. He’d been her brother’s roommate for all the years they lived at university. She never liked his appearance, but had never imagined him dangerous.

“Raven, may I speak to you for a moment? I’ve a graduation gift for you. Might I come in?”

Raven watched his bony fingers twist, and the tips blanch white. She pressed her hand to her abdomen and bit back a grimace. “Xavier, thank you for the thoughtfulness, but you shouldn’t have. I’ve nothing for you.”

“Oh, you do, Lady St. James. Trust me.”

When Xavier’s tongue wet his lower lip her flesh turned to raw chicken skin, clammy and bumpy. She backed further into the room. He followed.

“For years now, I’ve watched you grow into a beautiful woman, and I’ve waited for you to come to me. So many lost opportunities, Raven.” Xavier nudged past her as he spoke. “You never came, Raven. So now, I’m coming to you. I’ve been most patient, but there are only days left till we part our ways, and I want to—no I need to show you how I feel. I know you feel the same way. You just could never tell me because your precious brother was always around. Now he’s not. It’s just you and I, finally alone.”

Raven wiped his spittle from her cheeks. His rigid body language oozed violence, better than a festering sore. Seeing his skeletal fingers coming towards her, she backed away, her mind a flurry of thoughts.

What in hell is wrong with him?

He couldn’t possibly want—no—sex?

He’s a bleedin’ pilchard if he thinks...
Lucian!

Why the hell did I allow him in? Lucian!

She didn’t know whether to scream bloody murder or reason with him. She told herself to remain calm and just talk to him, then everything would be all right. “Xavier, I’m sorry if I’ve ever misled you about my feelings for you. I’ve always considered you a friend.”
Dammit, men get so insecure with the word “Friend
.”
“What of your family? I’ve heard mention of the Maestro and your brother Xanti. Are they coming to the ceremonies? I just love how you call your father the Maestro.” Petrified, Raven prattled, hoping to stall Xavier until her brother could get to her. Sweat beads slid down her neck and into her cleavage. She followed Xavier’s eyes as he watched. Then the one thing she didn’t want to happen—happened. Tears replaced sweat drops.

“Stop it, Raven. Stop acting like a child!” Xavier yelled. He shook his head back and forth, fists clenched. When he refocused, he smiled, but it was a smile Raven didn’t want directed at her.

Ever.

“No Raven, no family this time. My father and brothers really aren’t morning people. I’ll see them after the ceremonies.”

“Xavier, really, you need to leave now. It’s late, and I’m tired. I’ve been very busy today and tomorrow will be the same with Duncan here and all the pre-ceremony activities taking place. The ladies and I are preparing an early tea.” Raven’s hands trembled as she pointed to the door.

Lucian, come to me now. I’m in trouble, real trouble.
Raven sent the thought to her brother again and again. A silent mantra. She headed for the exit. “I’ll get the door for you.”

Xavier blocked her. “I don’t think so, Ray. You and I aren’t going anywhere for a while. I told you I want to show you how I feel for you. Now,” he spit out as he grabbed her arms and thrust her onto the bed. With one forceful blow, he backhanded her across the face.

Welts blossomed across her cheek.

“I like the tears on you, Ray. I’m going to lick them off you, one by one. And for our finale I’ll make love to you until you scream my name. You’ll never want another man nor have another man, Ray, if it’s not me.”

The last thing Raven saw was his fist coming directly at her.

****

One of the housemothers heard the pleas and got to Raven’s room just as some beast fled Raven’s room covered in blood. She yelled at the top of her lungs, “It’s Jack, it’s Jack the Ripper, bloody God help us,” as she took chase after him and chucked her tea cup at his back. Xavier vanished, leaving the woman staring into the empty hallway. The woman swung around dizzily and began screaming, “It’s Dracula” and passed out.

****

At the entrance to Raven’s dorm, Lucian noticed two women in the hall, whispering. He heard only a few words,
beaten, bound, and raped,
and he blew the door open in a blind rage. Raven sat on the bed with two women tending to her. Her eyes swollen, and bruised. Blood trickled from her nose. Her clothes stained red and torn to shreds. The strand of pearls their mother had given her for her sixteenth birthday, gone. Raven had never taken the necklace off from the day she received the gift.

Bite marks covered Raven’s chest and abdomen. Her right arm dangled in such an unnatural state, Lucian knew the surgeon would have to be called to mend it, not to mention everything else on her battered body.

Sitting beside her, Lucian went to hold his sister’s hand, but she pulled away from him, her head hung. Her black hair matted down by blood concealed her anguish. A constant stream of tears rushed off her. The very sight of her ripped open Lucian’s heart.

Her hand to her jaw, Raven managed to whisper, “Lucian, I know you have questions, but not now. I am too disgraced to face you. He has stripped my very soul from within me.”

Overwrought with emotion, Lucian didn’t know what to do or how to help his sister. He didn’t have the right words to say to her and he’d never experience that before. They’d shared every aspect of their life together never holding anything back from one another. Now Raven sat before him despondent. Then his tears came. He turned away. She couldn’t see his pain. She’d worry about him. That was her nature; everyone else came first. So badly, he wanted to hold her, take away the hurt in her beautiful blue eyes.

“Ray, I know you feel many things now, I can see into your mind. This is in no way your fault. Never blame yourself for this, my beauty.” Lucian had all he could do to keep his voice neutral, but an edge to it gave him away. “Please just give me a name, and I’ll make sure he never hurts you or any other woman ever again.”

“Why, Lucian? What bloody good would it do now?” Raven’s voice carried such rage it took Lucian aback. Hatred and bitterness shielded her now.

“The damage is done. The bastard’s probably ruined any hope I have at having children. Lucian, look what that monster did to me. Look, Lucian.” Raven yelled hysterical. So much, in fact, she spread her legs apart and pulled her torn pink skirt up past her thighs.

“No, my beauty, don’t do this,” Lucian choked at the sight of the damage to her. He covered her, closed his eyes and prayed he could forget the heinous vision now imprinted forever behind his eyelids.

One of the women in the room threw an arm around him fearing he might faint. He shrugged her away.

“Ray?” Lucian went to place his arms around her, but she pulled away again. Lucian was certain death was upon him. He let the monster get her, when he’d promised for so many years to protect her. He let her believe he was her knight in shining armor. He’d failed her. He was no better than the monster that did this to her.

Don’t think that, Lucian. You still are my knight. Just rusty. I love you
.

That one thought tipped the scales. Tears fell as if the levy gave way. He loved Raven. There she sat, broken, saturated in her own blood, and she was trying to make him feel better. He pulled her against him, protectively.

Duncan eased his way into the room. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Choked up, his knees buckled, and he landed on the floor beside Raven. He reached for her hand. “My little beauty, I will get the man who did this to you, I swear this on me life. I love you, Ray.”

Duncan got off the floor, hugged Lucian and staggered into the hall. The pain on Raven’s face...He couldn’t bare it. He did not want her to witness the rage he felt. And with everything Duncan had been through, he couldn’t trust his emotions to stay resilient and strong for her.

After the surgeon arrived, Duncan broke the news that it was Xavier who had attacked Raven. He told Lucian, “Raven put up the fight of her life. The women in the hall saw the tail end of the attack and tried to help. They told me Raven gouged one of his grey eyes from his head and tore off one of his testicles too. Xavier ran from the room holding his nob, screaming like a baby. His broken ball is splattered on the floor in there.” Duncan pointed back over his shoulder to the room. “His eye hung from a tethered nerve.” Knowing she’d gotten a piece of the bastard, made Duncan feel better. Now it was his turn to get a chunk of the bastard, his head. Preferably both.

****

Within a day’s travel, André St. James arrived in London. He’d heard Raven’s screams, felt her distress just as Lucian had the second the attack happened because he shared the same mental pathways his cousins did. He dropped everything, fled France and came to offer his support for Raven and a swift sword for the monster that hurt her.

The three men searched for months but found no leads to Xavier. It was as if the rogue disappeared from the face of the earth.

****

Present, 1896

Molly headed across the street mid-morning, her little black and white cat winding its way between her feet with each step. She knocked on Serina’s door, calling to her new friend, but the door remained closed. Molly didn’t seem too concerned thinking maybe the doctor went to work and had gotten an early start. She turned to leave when the pounding of hooves in the distance caught her attention. She looked down the road and saw Duncan at the helm of the carriage fast approaching. Dirt and rocks spit out from under the wheels. A wake of unsettled dust hung in the air. Molly started back towards the house.

“Have you seen Serina today, Molly?” Duncan yelled as he jumped from the carriage.

“No, Duncan. I don’t think the doctor’s home.”

Lucian jumped out from inside the carriage, with Raven crushed against his chest. Before he could ask, Duncan took Raven. Lucian stormed up to the door and began pounding on it. “Serina!” He yelled, as he slammed his shoulder into the door a few times. The door cracked beneath his weight, and Lucian shoved his way through. Charging, he made his way up the stairs to her bedroom, where he found Serina face down on the floor. Beside her, a broken pitcher lay in a puddle of water.

He lifted her from the floor and headed back downstairs to the kitchen. “Duncan, bring Raven into the parlor.”

After Lucian lay Serina on her kitchen table, he placed cool, wet cloths on her face and chest trying to bring her around.

Finding herself in the arms of a very handsome man once more would have been a nice start to Serina’s day had she not been soaked and chilled to the bone or had the sudden urge to vomit all over everything. Lucian included.

“Please forgive me, Lucian,” she offered mortified. “You’re going to need a new wardrobe if you keep coming here. What’s happened to get you back to me so soon? Better question, why am I on my table soaking wet?” Serina wiped her mouth off with a rag supplied by Lucian.

“Raven was attacked again. She needs help, although after seeing you, I’m not so sure you can help her. I found you on your floor.” Lucian wiped Serina’s stomach contents from his shirt.

“Help me up, and I’ll get things ready for another transfusion. Is Raven awake?”

“Barely. To touch her, well it’s as if she were…” His voice trailed off. “Please help her, Serina. Use my blood.”

“Lucian, go ask Molly and Duncan to go to All Hallows Church on Byward Street. I need them to bring Father Butler back. After they’ve left we need to talk.”

“Only if you use my blood.”

“Bribery?” Serina wrinkled her nose at him. He returned her wrinkle with a shifty eyebrow and then tapped a finger to his arm, reiterating his desires silently.

She argued and ran nothing short of a filibuster that Lucian wasn’t strong enough to donate after losing so much blood last night, but he insisted and made a liar out of her by the time they were finished. He was a spry one.

****

“Hello, my child.” Father Butler greeted Serina with a quick peck on her cheek. Coming in from the blustery morning what few hairs the man held were windblown and stood on end, his cheeks a ruddy purple. The portly little man carried a smile big enough for all of them until he saw Raven’s grave appearance. Shortly thereafter, the priest administered her last rites.

In the corner of Serina’s kitchen, Lucian stared into space. Lost.

Last rites
.

Father held little hope for her. Lucian’s heart ached like never before. Yesterday they danced at a ball, laughed, enjoyed their friends, spoke of future dreams, and today...the Grim Reaper loomed outside. He wiped the foul tears from his cheeks as he watched Father Butler pour the blessed water over his sister. With each bubble that boiled from the holes in her neck, the acid within his stomach rose. He swallowed hard.