The Bride of the Immortal (11 page)

Mairin silently nodded and before she could prepare herself for what was coming it was already over. The way Adrijan and the attacker had torn apart her undergarments with ease she was seriously considering a change to more protective attire.

Adrijan’s touch felt cold as ice on her feverish body. His fingers quickly slid away the straps of her undergarments, first over her shoulder, then down her arm to her wrist, causing her to shiver again.

“I’m sorry, almost done,” Adrijan mumbled, drew the straps under her palms and removed the piece of clothes completely by pulling it away past her neck. Mairin could hear a scarcely audible noise when the light garment landed on the floor.

“Can you manage to lift your right hand?”

With only one arm to support herself, her body dangerously started to shake, but her weakness didn’t remain unnoticed. The vibrations of the mattress were proof of Adrijan’s movement. In an instant he had breached the little distance there had still been between them and thereby forced her to use his chest as a back rest. Reluctantly Mairin acknowledged to herself that it was a lot easier for her to remain sitting upright like that, but Adrijan didn’t seem to be satisfied yet and even held her raised arm. The material of the sleeve that was touching her skin was soft, silk maybe, but her current condition made it impossible for her to cherish it. Due to her fever Mairin’s body was hot, yet she felt cold and the thin layer of sweat on her skin made her yearn for a warm bath. Without any further comment Adrijan helped her into the second sleeve. Mairin wished he’d talk to her to keep her mind off what was going on. The more she thought about it, the less she liked it and the more difficult it became to endure. After all she was almost completely naked under the blanket.

“Won’t you button it up?”

For one moment she was confused about what he was talking about, until she noticed that it was the only thing left to do with the top part. Even so she hesitated.

“My eyes are shut tight. Go ahead.”

It was scary how he seemed to know exactly what was going on in her head. Like expected the blanket slipped down and revealed her chest when she did as he had suggested.

“Done.”

“Perfect, now lie down again for the rest.”

Carefully he helped her to lower her body, took off her shoes and pulled away her dress. Mairin was worried about how he would proceed, but he even managed to put on her trousers without much more than pushing the blanket further up bit by bit, constantly trying to keep her covered as much as possible. It took Mairin’s last strength – both of body and mind – to assist him and when they were finally done she felt utterly exhausted as well as tremendously relieved.

It hadn’t been the right time for feeling awkward about undressing a girl. He still kept calling her that in his mind – a girl, even though he was supposed to know better by now: She was a young woman.

Adrijan went back to the cupboards. Mairin was too weak. He couldn’t possibly rely on her own strength to keep her on the motorcycle. Again he went through the stored items, looking for something like a rope or a belt he could use. Adrijan was hoping that she had not noticed how difficult changing her clothes had been for him. Her question had just been the tip of the iceberg. The whole process had stirred up too many bad memories. Memories about his past, the women he had seen suffer, and memories of Magdala. Magdala… she was his guardian angel and had been his saviour, still was his saviour.

In his mind he went through the prayer he had heard her repeat over and over again.

“Hilf, Maria, es ist Zeit…”

It helped him to collect his thoughts and to calm down until he stumbled upon the items he had chosen to forget. At once he dismissed every thought of her. He disapprovingly shook his head and already wanted to close the cupboard when his eyes were caught by something he could use: a roll of bondage tape. Clearly he would have preferred something different but considering the circumstances it wasn’t difficult to make a decision. The few remaining objections were instantly dismissed by the pain in his arm. Before confronting Mairin with the good news he would prepare the last bit of their flight. Adrijan put the tape on the bed and went back to the garage where Nebel was resting peacefully. It didn’t take long until he had discovered a shelf with two motorcycle helmets.

“So far so good,” he mumbled.

While the garage door was opening Adrijan put the helmets on the machine and pushed it towards the gate. By then it had already dawned but the darkness was still lingering in the forest. The light from inside reached just far enough to show him the beginning of the small road leading away from the bungalow. Cursing the pain in his arm he continued pushing the motorcycle forward until he reached the path.

What would he give if he could just lie down for an hour or two to rest before moving on… Adrijan faintly shook his head. Who was he kidding? If he lay down now the next thing he’d see after opening his eyes would most likely be one of the pursuers holding their gun to his face. Without a doubt they wouldn’t deny themselves the pleasure of waking him for that. Until now he had been in luck by not encountering any of them – and he probably had to thank Vivian for that – but Adrijan was aware that they weren’t safe yet and dreaded the possibility that Walther or one of his co-conspirators might be waiting for him upon his return.

On his way back to the girl Adrijan searched his coat pockets for the small bundle that had fallen out of Mairin’s clothes. He removed it carefully and put the handkerchief into the inside pocket, hoping it wasn’t only holding evidence of one of the girl’s emotional outbursts. In case it was important to her he wanted to make certain that it wasn’t lost in the forest on the way between the immortal’s secret love nest and his home.

Mairin had given in to her fatigue and the fever and was sleeping fitfully. He regretted having to wake her almost as much as being unable to give in to his urge to follow her example.

“Mairin, wake up… we have to leave.”

Adrijan reluctantly touched her arm and shook her gently. Her body was hot and she only managed to mumble a weak reply. Once again it was up to him to set her in motion. Swiftly he drew back the blanket and helped her slip into the down coat. Then he picked up the roll of tape, put one of Mairin’s arms around his shoulders and pulled her up. All that was left was to get her to the vehicle and keep her there on their way to safety.

“I’m sorry… for being such a bother,” the girl whispered.

“Hush. There’s no need for that.”

Together they continued their way through the garage and to the motorcycle. Adrijan nervously looked around, expecting an attacker hidden behind almost every single tree that was surrounding them but either there was nobody around or they were waiting for an even better moment to ambush them.

“Stay here for a moment.”

The girl nodded weakly and hesitantly leant on the motorcycle treating it as if it were a hotplate. Worried that she might drop with exhaustion he tried to keep an eye on her while rushing back to the gate. After inserting the correct code the mechanism was activated and the garage door closed. It would have to suffice to keep Nebel safe until he was picked up by one of the immortal’s staff. He tried to convince himself that there was no point in fretting since none of their pursuers were after the stallion.

Mairin was staggering.

With three big steps he was back at her side supporting her with his healthy arm. He had just enough energy and patience left to explain his plan to her in a few words. In the end a feeling of guilt got the better of him and he added some words that he hoped were reassuring.

“I am aware that this might scare you but I promise I’ll keep you safe. Remember that.”

It was hard to tell if Mairin believed him or not but the frightened and worn out look on her face didn’t change at all. He tried to smile encouragingly and helped her to put on the helmet. It was obvious how much she disliked the situation but Mairin didn’t even protest when he gently forced her to mount the motorcycle and got on in front of her. Adrijan took a deep breath. Now it was time to make use of the tape. He started at his waist and tossed it back over his shoulder and over her back, grabbed it again and continued the procedure with the other side forming a cross. To make sure the tape wouldn’t easily rip, he repeated the process several times. Even then he was not yet satisfied, reached back for Mairin’s arms and put them around his waist. This time he used the tape to make certain her arms would stay where they were. There was still a bit left on the roll but he didn’t bother trying to cut it and just left it dangling over his thigh. It was high time to get out of there.

The fenced in path provided enough room for a car and the headlight of the motorcycle enabled him to overlook the road yet he didn’t dare to go full speed. So close to his goal he was afraid he might encounter an animal that had managed to find a way past the fence or cause the girl behind him to lose her consciousness again. She wouldn’t be the first bride to respond to modern means of transportation like that. There had been this young girl once, Emilia – or had it been Erika? They had picked her up at his cottage with a limousine and she had fainted when they hadn’t been yet out of the driveway. Adrijan smirked. The immortal made sure there was a lot to get excited about. Sooner or later every one of them, even the ones who were most indifferent about everything, encountered something that took their breaths away. Agnes – another bride – had missed the whole ride from
Traumstadt
to the immortal’s home by oversleeping but when she had gazed at Vivian through the opened door with her eyes still half closed she had suddenly been wide awake, blushing heavily and she had hit her head on the car top trying to jump to her feet. Of course not all of them had reacted so extreme. And not all of them had accepted Vivian’s offer. Maybe Mairin wouldn’t either and it would turn out that all of this had been for nothing – or almost for nothing. Even if she declined the offer it wouldn’t have been fair to leave her to Walther and his minions after turning her into one of his targets.

Adrijan carefully took his right hand from the steering link and put it around Mairin’s fingers. They were clenched to a fist and not wearing any gloves her hand was almost as cold as his. At least he was able to feel the slight movement of her fingers, proving that she was still conscious and still with him. He was wondering for how long the path would continue. There were hardly any curves in the road that weren’t ignorable and driving on like this in his condition was getting more and more dangerous. After a few more endless minutes a closed gate finally came into his sight. It was so overgrown with plants that at first he had thought the road had simply ended in front of him. Adrijan slowed down the motorcycle and eventually halted at a safe distance. Staring at the gate he realised that he would either have to find a way to open it or a way around it. Surrounded by the fence the latter didn’t seem to be an option. Once again Adrijan sighed. By now he was more than fed up with running into one obstacle after the other. Frustrated Adrijan stopped the engine, removed his helmet and took out his phone. If the GPS was right, they were actually very close to the driveway to the immortal’s home, meaning that he would have to approach it through the main gate – if he was able to find a way past this one.

Adrijan could already see the headlines of several newspapers if one of the immortal’s staff should decide to take a photo and leak it to them.

“Catholic priest on motorcycle kidnapping innocent girl bound with bondage tape” would surely be one of the least shocking. At first the pope would die from a heart attack and then the Vatican would respond to the headlines by capturing Adrijan and burning him at the stake. He knew at first-hand how much his
brothers
had enjoyed doing that. Maybe one of the servants who would be questioned in the process would make a remark about his age and then they’d decide to not only burn Adrijan but his ashes as well and maybe exorcise them before throwing the ‘dust’ into a sacred repository that would keep all evil from escaping.

Adrijan shrugged and dialled the number of his manservant. Maybe Alfred was already awake. Even if the sight of his master would be a shock to the old man he wouldn’t run into danger of ending up on the first page of every newspaper. Adrijan impatiently listened to the call signal. Once, twice… soon he would end up on the message box and left alone in the forest.

“Good morning, Sir.”

Obviously Adrijan wasn’t out of luck yet.

“Good morning, Alfred. I’m in a bit of a pickle and need your help.”

“Of course, Sir, I’m glad if I can be of any assistance, Sir.”

This was part of what he liked about Alfred: He was a professional. Experienced staff didn’t ask unnecessary questions.

“Do you by any chance know of a path diverting from the main road? It leads to a secret bungalow in the forest.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Adrijan was astonished. How could he know this place while Vivian had left him in the dark about it?