Merrick (8 page)

“Yes,” I
whispered. My hands were still molded to his shoulders.

“You have to
rest.” He gently removed my arms as he rose to his feet.

It was terrible to
feel him pulling away, and I didn’t know how to keep the dismay off of my face.
My senses were returning to me, however, and as I realized the full weight of
what had just transpired I felt my cheeks grow hot and my eyes widen in belated
disbelief.

“I have to leave
you for awhile tonight.”

God
, he was
beautiful. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him as he was stood over me
bare-chested like that, with his hair a bit tousled (from
my
fingers!
)
.
But the thought of him leaving was a gloomy one.

A trace of a smile
touched his lips. “Lie down. I’ll bring you some tea.”

I did as he asked,
slipping under the blanket and listening to him move through the kitchen.

Was I still
delirious?

Or perhaps I’d
died?

Merrick returned
with a steaming cup of tea in one hand and a pitcher in the other. He set the
pitcher upon the nightstand and sat beside me on the bed. “Sit up and drink
this down. It will help you rest well, and reinvigorate your body.”

My body felt
fairly invigorated, but I did as he asked. The tea tasted pleasantly of
chamomile and ginseng.

“Drink as much
water as you can.”

I nodded, unable
to look at him.

When my cup was
empty, he took it from my hand and set it on the stool. “Are you all right,
William?”

My answer came
surprisingly easily, and sounded quite calm. I supposed I was in shock. “I’m
very confused.”

“That is
understandable. Why don’t you lie down and rest?”

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes. I have not
been out in a while.”

Vampire. Right.

Of course.

My eyelids were
growing heavy, and I lay down at last. How shocked would I be when I’d finally
escaped this fatigue?

“Sleep well,
William.”

A large meal
awaited me in the kitchen. It was already afternoon, and Merrick was at the
table trimming roots over a basket. The shutters were cracked to let in the
daylight and he was wearing his hood.

“Good morning,
William. I hope you’ve rested well. Eat heartily.”

“I have, sir.
Thank you.” There was ham, venison, eggs, potato, bread, and something that
looked uncannily like fruit pies. My stomach didn’t just growl, it snarled. I
poured myself some tea and sat down.

The berry pie nearly
brought tears to my eyes at the end of the meal. I hadn’t been out of the city
that long, but it had been a while since I’d had a fruit pie. “Thank you, sir.
It was kind of you. I feel much refreshed.”

Merrick set the
roots aside and slowly rose from the chair. He reached up to close the shutters
and then sat across from me at the table. Pushing back his hood and veil, he
fixed me with a solemn, disapproving look.

I looked humbly
back at him, dreading whatever words might accompany that grim gaze. It was
strange to see him with his robe on and his hood off. His usual old-wise-man
guise was really most effective, and the dissonance between the druid’s robe
and his young, handsome face was startling.

“You must never do
that again.”

My heart stopped.

“Of course, I must
take the blame,” he said with a weary sigh.

“I am deeply
sorry, sir.” My throat felt dry as bone, and the words had no voice.

He shook his head
again and held up a hand to silence me. “Nothing so poisonous should have been
within your reach. I am too accustomed to being alone and did not think of
rearranging things for caution’s sake when you arrived.”

…Oh.

“Nevertheless, you
must never toy with concoctions you do not understand. You have much to learn
before you start experimenting with medicinal herbs.”

I stammered a bit,
relieved beyond belief that he was not, after all, chastising me for the night
before. “Y-yes, sir. I…I understand that.”

His brow furrowed
with concern. “Why, all the color has left your face. Does it wound you so to be
scolded, William?”

“I…I thought you
were talking about…”

Realization dawned
on his face, followed by amusement. His lips curved into a smile, showing his
straight, perfect teeth.

I couldn’t help
trying to get a look at them, for in all the times I’d seen him without his
robe I had never noticed any…

His smile grew.
“Are you looking for my fangs?”

I nodded. It did
appear on closer inspection that his canines were slightly pronounced; at
least, they were somewhat pointier and longer than my own. “Can these teeth
pierce a vein, sir?”

“They are sharper
than they look.”

I believed it.
“Does it taste all right?”

Merrick tilted his
head, looking curiously at me. “Are you interested in such details, William?”

I blinked. “Well,
yes.” Was that any surprise? “I’ve never met…”

“You are not a
particularly fearful person, are you?”

That gave me pause
for thought. “I don’t consider myself brave,” I said, “But I have always been
rather curious.”

“Has that curiosity
never led you to trouble?”

The question
triggered me to smile for the first time in a good while. “Consistently. But
nothing serious. It was when I turned my brain off that the real trouble
happened.”

“Well,” he
murmured. “I admire your curiosity. But you need not concern yourself with the
details of my nature.”

I looked at him
skeptically. Then I was to leave it at that, then? He was a vampire, end of
story? “Why did you tell me, sir?”

“Because I knew
you could be trusted.” He paused. “And although I would have preferred to
reveal the truth more elegantly, I did not expect you to cripple and poison
yourself within a month of arriving…” Merrick smiled wryly. “I could hardly
refrain from intervening, merely to postpone revealing the truth. Now, why don’t
you take your walk?”

Take my walk?

After all that had
happened, I was to simply take my walk?

I could only
reluctantly nod, and I felt Merrick’s eyes stayed on me as I rose and began to
clear the table. “Leave it,” he said, surprising me.

Good God, for a
man who had said he preferred not to challenge expectations! Could he not even
have his bound servant do the things servants were meant to do?

Outside, the
sunlight was welcome refreshment. I breathed deeply of the fresh air as I set
out on the usual path, but for all the good it did my body it did nothing to
soothe my mind.

All the questions
that had been simmering in my mind had been brought to a rolling boil. Did
Merrick want to drink my blood? Had he ever been married? Did he kill
indiscriminately? Was he thinking about the night before? Would he kiss me
again? Did the town people suspect him? Was he…

My thoughts
trailed off when I saw a female figure walking down the road. Even from a
distance, her movements were young and gay, her arm sweeping out now and again
so she could brush her fingertips over the foliage at the road’s edge. She wore
a simple blue gown and carried a basket, and as she came closer I saw her long
blonde hair blowing gently in the breeze.

“Good morrow,” I
said as she came nearer, bowing low and pivoting to keep her in my sights.
Praise Fate. If anything could soothe me now, it would be the company of a girl
and a nice, lazy flirt.

She slowed to a
stop. “Good morrow,” she replied in a sweet voice. She was a simple looking
girl, but pretty. Her skin looked as soft as a child’s and her cheeks were like
little peaches. “Are you Doctor Merrick’s apprentice?”

“I am.” Good God,
it
was
nice to speak with a woman. The sight and sound of her filled me
with a warm and familiar affection. I did love them so, from the rebels like
Molly Wrigs to the hardy working women of the city to my own sweet Mum. Bless
them all. “William Lacy. How do you do?”

“Very well, thank
you,” she said with a sweet smile. “I’m Sarah Brightwell. I live in Mayriver,
up the way. Are you from the city?”

“I am.”

“It must be
exciting.” Her blue eyes were alight with interest. “Where are you going?”

“I’m just out for
a walk.”

“May I join you
for a spell? I’m going to see Doctor Merrick, but I’m in no hurry.”

“Certainly,” I
said with my most gallant smile, and began to walk with her beside me. It
seemed Fate had decided to show me mercy in the form of a sweet country girl! I
kept a polite distance from her, folding my hands behind my back.

“How did you come
to this place?” Sarah asked.

I looked towards
the leaves above us. “We-ll,” I said reluctantly. “I am a bound servant.”

“Sent by the
court?” she asked, putting a few steps more between us, though it seemed it was
to get a better look at me rather than to retreat. “What was your crime, sir?”

“Public
drunkenness, and various results thereof.”

Sarah seemed
surprised. “That’s a little old-fashioned, isn’t it?”

Nice girl. I
wondered what she was going to see Merrick for. “Well, at least I’m here and
not in jail.”

“How do you like
it?”

I looked around.
The surprise of it never wore off: I liked it very much. “It’s more pleasant
than I would have expected.”

“And Doctor
Merrick is very kind, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” I said.
“Very kind…”

As the words left
my lips, it happened. Right there, in the most unexpected moment.

The Wall cracked.

I thought of
Merrick in his grim, mysterious hood, working quietly over his bowls and
bottles, and his gentle voice asking me questions, giving me answers. I thought
of the clothes and the food he gave me, and the leisure he afforded me, the
walks and the quiet reading time. I thought of how he never spoke crossly or
failed to greet me with a pleasant tone. And I remembered every time he’d
tenderly touched me – to guide my hand as he showed me how to trim and chop and
grind his herbs, to lay a comforting hand on my back when I was frustrated, to
smooth my hair in those rare but significant moments when intimacy bloomed
between us like a bright flame. I thought of his sudden, always-unexpected
smiles, and how it always warmed me to think I had been the one to bring one to
his face.

And I got that
strange feeling in my chest, a tight, tingling…

I was in love with
Merrick.

I was wholly taken
with him.

Here I was,
walking down the road with the prettiest girl I was likely to see for any
number of months, and God help me! When Merrick’s name was on her lips I
thought not of her lips but of
Merrick
. Of
Merrick!

“My little
brothers are afraid of him,” Sarah said with a pretty laugh. “Most boys are.”

I could only just
keep up with the conversation. “Are they?”

“Well, he is a bit
fearsome, isn’t he? With that hood? But he’s a kind and gentle man.”

Drowning in the
floods of my epiphany, I wished she’d stop talking about him so I could get
that damned Wall back up. I changed the subject. “Have you lived here all your
life?”

“Yes! My family’s
been here since 1702.”

“And what does
your father do?”

“He’s a knife
maker.”

That was worth any
suitor’s notice, I thought wryly. As she got to talking, I focused determinedly
on her sweet voice and the glow of the sun on her hair. Though I was still too
distracted to try and charm her, she seemed thrilled enough by my company. It
was clear she was the kind of girl who dreamed of life outside of the village,
and I wondered if she’d find her way out one day. I hoped not. She was too soft
and lovely for the city.

At last I felt my
wits about me again. The Wall was repaired! I gradually steered her back to the
cottage, knocking on the door to announce her.

Merrick answered,
slightly hunched over, and beckoned her in with his rough old-man voice.

I stared at him
from behind the girl, for the act amused me a little more each time. What lay
under that robes was the very opposite of –
Stop!
I shook my head
furiously as they turned away, resolving to spend the next five minutes without
thinking of anything under that robe.

Sarah greeted him
kindly, offering him the basket once he’d beckoned her inside.

“Please put on
some tea for Miss Brightwell, William,” Merrick instructed, and sat with her at
the table.

I listened to them
as I put on the kettle. It wasn’t often I was in the room when Merrick spoke to
his customers. Sarah had come to procure more of a remedy Merrick made for her
headaches. She could have ordered it easily from Thomas the courier, but it was
plain enough to see that she had wanted to get a look of the young apprentice
from the city. She was an endearing little thing, and I was glad she’d come by.

“Good day,
William,” Sarah said from the door as she was about to leave, fixing me with a
sweet, sunny smile. “Good day, Doctor Merrick.”

When the door
closed and Merrick turned to me, I realized I’d forgotten to bring back the
bark he’d asked me to find. My eyes widened. “I beg pardon, sir. I did not
fetch the bark you asked of me. I can return quickly…”

“No,” he said.
“I’d like you to do your regular chores. There is a list of things to be
prepared for tomorrow. Take care of the ones I have marked. I will check them
before they go out. When you’re finished, I want you to read for a spell and
prepare to summarize what you’ve learned.”

I nodded. “Yes,
sir.” I watched him disappear through the bedroom, headed for the cave. I had
made it five minutes, and I let out a long, exhausted breath.