Stained (18 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

O God, O Goddess, please help Uncle in his need for healing. Give him strength in all his needs. Also I beg help for the times coming. May hardships flee before me as does the flame in the breeze.

Thorn shifted in her chair and tapped her foot. They had taken Uncle into the operating room to fix his hip. She knew it would be hours. She flipped her hair out of her eyes and let out a deep sigh as she sat back, trying to relax. She prayed he would be all right. The doctor had assured her. Loud, quick footsteps came down the hall and Thorn looked up, afraid it was the doctor coming to tell her that Charlie hadn’t made it but it was Sé. She stood up to meet him.

“Thorn,” Sé gave her a long hug and she clung to him.

“They told me he would make it but I’m still worried, he’s all I have left.” She closed her eyes.

“Have they given you an update?” Sé asked, his eyes narrowed.

“No, I didn’t know they could do that. He’s just gone into surgery.”

“Come on, let’s go ask for information.” He took her hand and they walked to the information desk. “Excuse me. Can you give us an update on Charles Beglan, please?”

“Who are you, sir?” the elderly OR waiting room receptionist asked. She had a gentle smile that would calm nervous families.

“Detective O’Bradigen and this is his niece, Thorn.”

“Let me call back and see what I can find out,” she said, smiling at them.

Thorn shifted from foot to foot and Sé squeezed her hand.

“Detective, Miss Thorn?”

“Yes,” Thorn answered.

“They’re repairing his hip, his vitals are steady. Everything is going well and he should be in recovery in an hour. Then it will depend on how long it takes him to come out of anesthesia before he can come out of recovery.”

“Thank you so much,” Thorn said. She sent a thank you to the Goddess.

“Let’s get some coffee.” Sé said, leading her towards the cafeteria. They held hands as they walked down the endless tile hallways smelling of antiseptic and adhesive. Thorn hardly noticed. She drew warmth and comfort from Sé’s hand. Her hand rested in his warm, rough, big hand. It felt natural. She realized she hadn’t asked about Stained. Craziness and fear threatened the edge of her awareness but she was anchored in his contact. Uncle was going to be okay.

They entered the mostly-closed cafeteria. The grills were closed but Sé bought two black coffees and they took a seat by a window where they could see the fall leaves blowing in the light breeze. Flashes of color swept past the window.

“How bad is Stained?” Thorn asked.

He surveyed her face, as if weighing her state of mind.

Sé sighed, “It’s going to take work to get it back to where it was, but there doesn’t appear to be structural damage. The windows are all gone and Gwynn and Reese got cut up pretty good. They aren’t going to be able to work for a while.”

Thorn took a drink of her coffee and grimaced at its harshness. “I’ll take care of their wages until they can work and the shop is up and running.” Sé smiled at her. He wasn’t surprised.

“I called an emergency cleanup crew the PD uses for crime scenes and had them come over to board up the windows and clean up the glass.” He sipped the burned brew and gave her another considering look. “Then there’s the matter of the upstairs.” Thorn’s face was carefully controlled. The only thing that was irreplaceable was Uncle. Next were her books. Caleb had done a damn good job of almost getting Uncle, she was afraid to find out about her books.

“Your books seemed to be safe,” Sé said, guessing her priorities.

Thorn let out a deep sigh.

“That’s all that was safe though,” he said gently. “He shredded the mattress, blew up the fridge, burnt the furniture and smashed everything else. I had the crew take everything broken and burnt out of there as well.”

“Thank you, very much. You don’t know how much I appreciate what you’ve done.” She reached across and held his hand. “I don’t know if I could have checked out the damage right now, but it would have made me crazy not knowing.” She sighed deeply and lifted her chin. “Nothing that was important was destroyed – now that Uncle Charles is going to be okay.”

Sé cleared his throat. “Thorn, you can’t stay there. Why don’t you stay at my house? You’ll be safe there. He doesn’t know about me.” Her eyes widened in alarm.

“But he’ll find out. It would put you at great risk, Sé.”

“I’m part of this, Thorn.” He headed off her look of regret. “By my choice. Besides you need a place you can practice your magick in private. You could do that at my place. Besides, I’ll have your back.” One side of his mouth lifted, no regrets.

“Are you sure about this? This takes our friendship or partnership or whatever it is into a whole new direction.”

Sé met her eyes. “I know.”

Thorn exhaled, relaxing her shoulders. She hadn’t realized how tense she had gotten. She thought about what she needed.

“I’ll need my books and some more clothes. Thank you, by the way. I’m not used to letting people help me. It’s been bad for people in the past.” She met his gaze, a gesture of warning. “I’d promised myself I wouldn’t let anyone else get hurt.”

“I know I’ve kept my distance. I’ve had to and it’s part of the job, but I don’t want to anymore. I think this could work, Thorn. I want to try.”

“Me too,” she smiled at him, realizing how deeply she meant it.

Thorn asked about Raven. Then it was time to check on Uncle. Sé took her hand in his again and led the way. When they got close to the information desk, the attendant waved them over.

“You just missed the doctor. He said to tell you everything went extremely well and that Mr. Beglan should be in his room by now.”

“Thank you,” Thorn said, her voice steady although her hands shook.

“Can you look up which room he’s in?” Sé asked.

“Of course,” the woman said. She wrote it down on a piece of paper for them.

Thorn studied the number and dragged Sé off to find her uncle. She was soon lost. Sé got them turned in the right direction. He’d navigated the hospital many times during the course of investigations. They found Uncle in a quiet section of the hospital. The hall was full of nurses and equipment. The only sounds at this time of night were blips and beeps from the many monitors. An occasional moan would come from a room as they passed.

Thorn knocked gently on Uncle’s room. She heard his weak answer and went in.

“Uncle?” She padded softly to his side as if gentleness would keep the pain away. “It’s me, Thorn. Are you okay? How are you feeling?” She went over to the man who always seemed bigger than life and now looked small and diminished. An old man in a hospital gown too big for him with IV’s coming out of him. Thorn smoothed his hair back and kissed his forehead.

“Ahh, child. You are a sight for sore eyes. I was so worried about you. I had the most terrible thoughts of what Caleb was going to do if he found you. He was so angry,” Uncle said, in a voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m so sorry, Uncle. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”

“Ach, not your fault. Caleb’s. He’s lost his mind, if he ever had it. Can I have a drink of water?” Thorn poured him a glass and put a straw in it. She held it up to his mouth for him so he could drink.

“Thank you. He is obsessed with finding you and getting your books. He wants Muirin’s book of shadows. He was furious when he couldn’t get through your wards.”

“Thank the Goddess they held. I’ll need them.”

“You’ll need Muirin too.” Uncle sunk into the pillows. He regarded her soberly.

“You know I can’t do it, Uncle.” Thorn rubbed Uncle’s hand and looked away.

“Do what?” Sé asked.

“Invoke Muirin’s spirit and her powers,” Uncle said.

“I cannot do it.”

“You’d ask her permission first, Thorn. You know she’d give them to you,” Uncle said gently.

“It just feels wrong,” Thorn said.

“She’d want to help you, Thorn,” Sé said.

“I’ll think about it,” she finally agreed, clearly giving no promise. She bent low to kiss Uncle’s cheek. “We should leave you to rest now. I’m going to be staying at Sé’s for now. My apartment is uninhabitable.”

Uncle’s eye lit with pleasure. “You take good care of my niece, Detective O’Bradigen.”

“I will, sir.”

“And you take care of Sé, missy.”

“I will, Uncle.”

“Now go, let me rest.”

Thorn and Sé left, as a nurse came in to take his vital signs. Sé recaptured Thorn’s hand as they were leaving and once again she gathered comfort from the gesture. Her mind was a whirlwind thinking about the next steps she would have to take. Sé squeezed her hand sensing, her unease.

When they left the hospital, she took a deep cleansing breath to rid herself of the aura of illness and despair. They crossed the street to the parking garage and a nervous Raven. He fluffed out when he saw them, spreading his wings to their full capacity and flapping them anxiously.

“Charlie?”

“He is recovering, Raven.”

“Will he be home soon?”

“No, he has to stay in the hospital for a while. We’re going to stay with Sé.”

“Good, you need help.”

“And you think that Sé can help,” Thorn said, putting her hand on her hip.

“Yesth.”

Sé laughed.

“Speaking of help, I forgot to tell you. Gérard came up to me today in the middle of all the chaos and told me to tell you that he wanted to help you. He said that “he” needed to be stopped and that he wanted to help. He said Caleb’s evil affected everyone. That you were wrong about him, Gérard, and that he was not what you thought.” Sé got up on his bike as he was talking. Thorn got on hers too.

“I’ll have to think about this. I just don’t know who to trust. It’s possible that Gérard isn’t an evil practitioner but I would have to talk to him more.”

“How do you want to do this? Should we go to my house and leave the bikes and take a taxi back to your place to pick up the books?”

Thorn started her bike. “Yeah, I think that’s best. We’ll need a flashlight too and some boxes.”

“I have those.” Sé started up his bike and led the way out of the garage. Raven brought up the rear, ever alert for trouble.

Sé’s apartment wasn’t far from the hospital, in a building that had been converted to lofts. They parked in the underground garage and took the elevator up to the fifth floor.

Sé unlocked the door. “Welcome,” he said.

Thorn and Raven went into the large open space. The floors were rehabilitated hardwood and the windows were floor to ceiling. The kitchen area was off to the right, in an open floor plan with an island in the middle. Sé kept it spotless. As she entered the rest of the area, there was a living room space with a wide screen TV and a black leather sofa. Behind that was a walled-in area with no ceilings. Thorn imagined those were the bedroom and bath areas. The walls were painted in terra cotta with an ochre trim. Very similar to her own tastes. The apartment smelled fresh and clean. She could work here.

Thorn turned around and smiled at Sé. He came to her and wrapped his arms around her. He gently kissed her and electricity hit her from her lips to her toes. She hadn’t been kissed in years. She’d been afraid to get that close to anyone. Sé kissed her again and she felt it in her stomach. She pressed her body into his and he reciprocated, deepening his kiss. His tongue flicked across her lips, tasting her, slipping his tongue into her mouth. She opened for him. She moaned when their tongues met, tasting his sweetness. He kissed her gently, then with a building passion, awakening feelings she’d never experienced. Her hands wrapped in his hair, pulling him as close as she could get him, while his hands ran up and down her back.

When he pulled away from her, her eyes were still closed, lost in the moment. Sé kissed each closed eyelid and then her nose. Thorn sighed and opened her eyes. Sé gazed at her with so much tenderness and longing. Her heart ached.

“Thorn, I don’t want to stop, but we have to get your things,” he said, hoarsely.

“Ach, I know it’s true.”

“You’re so beautiful.”

“You are the beautiful one. Inside and out, Sé. Thank you again for taking us in.”

“Shhh… it was for selfish reasons and I have ulterior motives,” he whispered, as he kissed her forehead. “Now I get to have you here with me.”

Thorn enjoyed the brief moment then they moved away to pick up their course, again.

“Let’s get those boxes and that flashlight so we can get out of there. Do you have something for Raven to perch on? And a water dish for him?”

“Yes. Raven, will this old hat stand work for you?”

“Yesth.”

“I’ll put out a bowl of fresh water here on the counter too.”

“Thanksth”

“You’re welcome. Now the boxes are in my storage unit in the basement. I’ll get the flashlight and call a cab.”

“Thanks, Sé.”

“No problem, Leannán,” he said, as he kissed her quickly.

Leannán, lover, that’s what he called her. Thorn felt a blush rise up her neck and across her face. She was scared of this happiness. She didn’t know if she deserved it after shutting so many people out for so many years. She was the reason her friends had gotten killed. Thorn couldn’t handle that again. She had been left a shell the last time it happened. It would destroy her to lose Sé. Even in this early stage of their relationship.

Sé came back from the other room, carrying a flashlight and his keys. Thorn managed a weak imitation of a smile.

“What’s wrong, am I moving too fast?” Sé asked, stopping in front of her.

“No. I’m worried about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Everyone I get near ends up getting hurt.” She ran her hands through her hair. “Caleb…”

“Caleb won’t touch me. You know about him, I know about him. We have the advantage, Thorn. We’ll get him. I have to trust that and so do you.”

“I do hope for that.”

“No, Thorn, believe it.”

“Let’s go get those boxes,” Thorn said, changing the subject.

Sé gave her a hard look and let it drop. “Okay, Leannán,” he said, and then kissed her forehead. He led her towards the door. “See you later, Raven.”