Pulse of Heroes (73 page)

“Even better,” he said, pouring some of the
sweet concoction into both glasses. Michelle took a sip and Elliot
told her that it was perfect after he drank most of his.

“They came here, didn’t they? That’s why she
has this photo? They were asking her where you were.” Michelle was
angry as she sipped her drink. Elliot took Michelle’s hand in his
and that was all she needed to know. Tears. “What did they do to
her? She’s dead because of me, I knew it. I knew it all along.”
Elliot told her that if Francesca had died because of anyone it was
because of him; he would have to carry that burden. But they would
probably never know for sure. Francesca had died of a heart attack.
Sad, Michelle sipped on her drink and flipped through the photo
album again. When she found what she was looking for she turned it
so Elliot could see. She pointed at the image of the beautiful
woman with the long brown hair and perfect lips and then waited for
Elliot’s response.

“That’s Ruth,” he said, sighing heavily. “She
was my wife. There’s no point in going back there. You know what I
am. You know how long I have lived. I don’t want to talk about it
because it’s not constructive to you or me. It’s only going to hurt
you.” He pulled the album off Michelle’s lap and shut it. Michelle
tried to grab it again but he raised it above his head. “No!”

“Then how am I supposed to trust you about
anything?” Michelle protested, getting off the couch to pour
herself more Limoncello. She then walked out the back door and
slammed it behind her. Elliot knew that what had happened with Ruth
was going to haunt him as soon as he had heard Michelle yelling at
him about having a child out of wedlock that night at the Prom. And
now, with Ruth’s image imprinted in her head, what was he supposed
to do?

“Michelle, is being married to someone wrong?
Why do you insist on torturing yourself? I don’t understand you
sometimes,” he said from the back porch. “Do you think it’s
realistic for me to have lived this long and never feel lonely?
Never to love anyone? Never to marry and have my own family? Was I
supposed to stay some virgin boy for 5000 years until I met you?
Well I didn’t, and you’d be mighty selfish to wish that on me. I am
a grown man, sweetie. I know it’s hard for you to reconcile that,
but you’re deceiving yourself if you only go by my outward
appearance. Do you have any idea how many times I have kissed
children goodnight, or how many times I’ve had to consol my own
daughters when a young man they were in love with didn’t return
their affection? All those memories and experiences are me. When
you say that you love me, do you even know what that means? Do you
love me, or do you love this?” Elliot pointed to his body with his
hands; he was dead serious.

Michelle put her hands over her ears. She
didn’t want to hear about those things. She didn’t want to imagine
Elliot with a family and children. She felt cheated, that it was
somehow unfair to her. She wanted to be his only one. She wanted
love to be something new, not old and rehashed, and yet she knew
how silly she was being.

“I don’t want to hear anymore!” Michelle
yelled out, her hands still over her ears. When Elliot walked up to
her, her eyes were tightly shut too. He gently moved her hands away
and she peeked at him.

“Then just stop asking,” he chuckled gently.
“I can’t be something I’m not.” Michelle’s mind just couldn’t let
it go.

“I just wanted to know if you’re the type of
man that would get some girl knocked up and then not marry her
until after she had the baby and became the subject of everyone’s
ridicule and gossiping? Did you even love her, or was it some
quickie mistake?” Michelle poked Elliot in the chest with her
finger. “Because the way you speak of yourself, I expected you to
have more class then that.” Elliot didn’t know which emotion to
feel first; anger at Michelle’s accusation, or bewilderment. After
a brief internal struggle, he lowered his head.

“You’re right. I made a mistake. I’m not
perfect, but I tried to make it right.”

“Did you even love her?” Michelle asked, her
voice full of scorn. The front doorbell rang and she left Elliot
standing in the backyard. It was the estate Executor again. He told
Michelle that there was something else he had forgotten to give
her, and handed her a brown paper envelope. Michelle had no idea
what it was, and when she turned back inside and headed to the
couch Elliot was there, staring at her intently. When he saw her
holding the envelope in her shaking hand, his demeanor changed and
concern filled his heart.

“What is it?” he asked softly. She had no
idea. “Open it,” he encouraged her and sat back down by her side.
Michelle slowly opened the envelope and found a pair of keys
wrapped in bubble wrap. There was a small sticky note attached to
them, stating that she would find all the paperwork and bill of
ownership inside the glove compartment, and all she had to do was
go to the DMV to register the car in her name and transfer the
title. Michelle looked at Elliot with excitement and shock.

“Does this mean what I think it…”

“She left you her car,” Elliot said, putting
his arm around Michelle. “She must have really cared for you.”
Michelle was dizzy with gratitude and exhilaration. She asked
Elliot if he had ever seen the car, but he hadn’t. Together, they
walked out to the side of the house, and while Elliot helped
Michelle take the canvas cover off the Jaguar she yelled up to the
sky.

“Thank you Francesca! Thank you! I love you!
I’ll keep an eye on it, Renzo.”

Elliot downshifted and hugged the curve. He
had a huge smile on his face and Michelle laughed at his boyish
antics. Elliot had told her that the Jaguar was a collector’s item,
a true race car, and he remembered how expensive they were back
when they first came out. He had always wondered how the little
racers handled, and Michelle took the hint and let him drive it. It
was only two in the afternoon and there was plenty of daylight
left. After almost making Michelle carsick by taking the turns with
such speed, they headed down the freeway at a more relaxed pace. At
one point they even held hands, but Michelle eventually pulled away
after her mind wandered back to their earlier discussions, which
eventually led her to think about the images Haden had showed her.
Elliot sensed her mood darkening and wondered which horrible memory
she was reliving.

“There are things that scare me about you,”
she said finally, while gazing at the passing vineyards and rolling
hills. Elliot sighed. He’d heard those words before and they were
never pleasant. He knew that they would be coming eventually; he
just hadn’t planned on hearing them so soon. The damage to
Michelle’s confidence in him had been done. Hadeno was tormenting
him from the grave. “You scare me a lot, actually. I’m ashamed that
I can even think like this, like I’m paranoid, but I can’t stop
this sense of dread.” She was ashamed, Elliot could sense that, but
there was more to it than that.

“Michelle, I don’t know what you want me to
say. You must know by now that I will never willingly hurt you,
right? Is it about me being different? You want me to apologize for
having been born this way? I’ve apologized too many times, and I
can’t do it anymore. I can’t constantly hate myself like that.
You’re the one that helped me to stop feeling like this, so please
don’t turn it back on me.”

“I don’t know what I want,” Michelle said,
and Elliot exhaled loudly. His profile was rigid, beautiful, yet
despite his taut muscles Michelle could tell that his eyes were
sad. “Haden showed me things. I don’t know how he did it, but I saw
you, and even Kahl and Rion and the others… it was like he played a
movie in my head, but it was more real than that. I can’t explain
it.” Elliot had no idea what Michelle was talking about and thought
that maybe she had dreamt something because of all the drugs that
Hadeno had given her.

“I think maybe you’re confused. We can’t make
people see things that they haven’t seen with their own eyes. Maybe
he told you things and you imagined them. But I’m sure they were
all lies.”

“Maybe Haden is different than you. I don’t
know. Maybe he was more powerful.” Elliot didn’t like to hear
Michelle describing Hadeno as more powerful.

“First of all, he’s dead, in case you forgot.
And we’re the same. I don’t know what kind of lies he told you
about me. So really, if you want to accuse me of something because
of him then just do it,” he said to her firmly. Michelle was
frustrated. But the truth was that she only believed the images
after seeing the way in which Elliot had slaughtered him. It was
the manner in which he swung his sword, it was the exact same way
he did in the images.

“What do you mean ‘the way in which I killed
him’? He was about to kill you, and me. Don’t you understand that?
I did what I had to do to get you out of there safely. I wanted him
dead, without any lingering doubts in my mind.” Michelle shook her
head and Elliot became frustrated. “What did you want me to do, sit
down and have a cup of tea with him and try to understand where he
was coming from? Why he got a bug up his sorry ass about some crazy
idea that killing me was going to give him control over the entire
world? If someone I love is in danger I’m not going to try and be
diplomatic while the enemy has already thrust his sword. The
difference between life and death is a matter of seconds. In our
case it was a matter of fractions of seconds.”

“Well you didn’t have to chop his head off!
What’s wrong with you!” Michelle yelled at the top of her lungs.
Elliot realized that the conversation was going nowhere. He pulled
off into an empty parking lot and when Michelle asked what he was
doing he told her that he was too angry and didn’t want to crash
her new car. Michelle placed her hand to her head in frustration.
Elliot was infuriated and discouraged that Michelle still couldn’t
deal with the facts in front of her face.

“This is not some fantasy world where
everyone gets along happily in the end,” he told her, wondering if
that was the way Michelle’s brain was protecting her from the
frightening reality that there were crazy and evil souls out there.
Elliot needed to walk off his negative energy and got out of the
car. Michelle called his name a couple of times but he just kept
walking further. She didn’t know what to do. Was she supposed to
follow him, or drive away? Or just sit there till who knows when.
He had used the word ‘love’ in regards to her. Would there ever be
a way for them to go back to where they were before all the
insanity began. Michelle wondered if she was crazy to still love
him.

Elliot returned after ten minutes or so and
opened the door for Michelle to get out. He was still angry; calm
angry. She noticed that his eyes had changed color twice since they
had pulled over, and she was frightened. Elliot read her expression
and knew that he needed to compose himself further because he was
scaring her all over again. Michelle stood with her back against
the car and watched Elliot walk back and forth with his face turned
to the sky. He blinked hard a few times and she remembered the
first time she saw him do that, only back then she thought it was
wonderful.

“Michelle, I can understand that you are
confused about things. But don’t you think I know what I’m talking
about? Hadeno was bent on poisoning you against me. Probably just
because he’s still angry that I helped one of his women escape from
under his nose. You have hardly lived yet, and for you to come
accusing me of God knows what, is just wrong”

“He told me that he saved your life, and that
you had an affair with his wife or something like that, and then
you ran off with her. I can’t be with someone who would do
something like that. That’s cheating on a friend, Elliot, and what
you did with Ruth!” Michelle’s voice grew shaky again. Elliot
explained to her that Hadeno’s version of things was just not true.
He told her that he was never with Kalina.

“When she found out that Hadeno had three
other women, two of which were already pregnant, she wanted to
leave. But she was scared to death. He was jealous and controlling.
She told me he pushed her around and… anyway she had no money of
her own and she needed help. She knew that Hadeno and I were equal
in strength, and thought that if she left with me Hadeno wouldn’t
come after her. And she was right. She ended up marrying a good man
and living a happy life.” Michelle shifted her feet in discomfort.
Could she have ended up being trapped like Kalina? “I told him
exactly what had happened, he just chose not to believe me,” Elliot
continued, but still Michelle looked at him suspiciously and it
upset him. Was she completely mad to believe the word of a man that
had almost killed her over his own?

“A few days ago you were seconds away from
death because he was going to run a sword straight through your
guts. Did you forget that? And yet you take his words over mine.
Did that gash on your side heal that fast?”

Michelle hadn’t forgotten everything Haden
had done, but she also hadn’t forgotten seeing Elliot with all
those other women, and she certainly couldn’t get past the image of
Elliot, soaked in blood, decapitating man after man as they begged
for mercy. How was he any different? How could she know for sure
that Elliot didn’t have other women he was courting in different
places?

Michelle finally told Elliot about the images
that she had seen, but only the violent ones, not the others.
Elliot was utterly stunned.

“I don’t understand how he was able to show
you my past. I’m speechless. I just don’t get it, unless he did
something to me while I was recovering from near death?” Michelle
told him about Haden’s eyes rolling up into his head and how they
had turned all white after he spoke in some different language.
Then she told him how frightening it was to see him covered in the
blood of all those he had killed, his expression cold, as if he had
no care for the lives he was taking. She had hoped that there was
some mistake, but now that Elliot had confirmed that the images
were real, of course that meant that all the women were real too.
Michelle looked down at the ground and Elliot saw her tears wetting
the gray asphalt. She was truly scared.