Touching Rune (20 page)

“I’m sweating!” Rune said with a grin. “I love this dancing.”

“You are glowing,” Dimitri laughed. He had shed his jacket and tie once the lighted floor and heavy beat had pulled Rune out time and time again. “She is about to wear me out.”

“That just means Sergei will have to ‘cut a rug’ with me,” Rune announced with a huge grin. “I heard an older couple say that. Henry is a great dancer. He showed me the Getter Bug.”

Neither man corrected Rune’s mispronunciation of Jitterbug. Sergei wasn’t lying when he said Rune was glowing. It was more than just the way her skin glistened. There was a light golden glow about her that had him worried. The feelings of desperation that he had been feeling over the past week rushed through him like a tidal wave.

“Rune,” he whispered reaching out to touch her cheek again. “You are glowing.”

Dimitri’s eyes narrowed as he noticed what Sergei was talking about. He had thought the faint shimmer around her had been an illusion of the lights from the dance floor. He took a step forward in concern.

“We need to leave,” Dimitri said urgently. “I’ll get my coat. Sergei, call our driver.”

Rune looked down at her skin and saw the faint glow. She looked up at Sergei with frightened eyes. This had never happened to her before.

“Sergei,” she whispered unsteadily. “It’s time for me to go.”

“Yes, Sergei, it is time for her to go,” a cold voice said from behind her. “Why don’t you introduce me to your new little toy before I help her on her way.”

Rune turned, startled.
Behind her stood the beautiful blonde from the magazine. She was staring at them with cold, calculating eyes that held a glint of insanity in them.

“Eloise,”
Sergei grounded out in a cold voice. “What are you doing here?”

“I know who…,” Simone’s voice died as she came to stand next to Sergei and Rune. She
froze when she saw the small handgun in Eloise’s hand. “Sergei?”

“You were mine!” Eloise hissed at Sergei before she coldly looked Rune up and down. “Before this little bitch came along.”

“Eloise,” Sergei said in a low dangerous voice. “Put the handgun down. You do not want to do this.”

“You think I don’t know what is going on? I’ve been in your home for the past week watching as that little bitch took what should have been mine,” Eloise said waving the gun at Rune. “I’ve seen how you and that bastard you call a bodyguard have screwed her. I was meant to be your wife!”

“You were the old servant,” Rune said as she recognized the narrowed eyes.

“
Min unnskyldninger, ma’am” Eloise sneered. “Even Dimitri couldn’t tell who I was. You ruined everything. Your stupid investigator finally figured out it was me who paid the drugged up brat to shoot you. I even gave him extra drugs but he missed. He remembered me from one of the movies I had been in once he sobered up,” she choked out. “I had to leave. I was ruined. All because you left me,” she whispered, ignoring the crowd that she was beginning to attract. “I did everything to make you love me, Sergei.”

“You need help, Eloise,” Sergei said, reaching out slowly to pull Rune behind him.

“Don’t touch her!” Eloise bit out in a wild voice. “You’ve touched her enough. Now, now it is time for you both to understand you shouldn’t have dumped me for her. I’m going to kill her first then you. You should have wanted me, Sergei.”

*,*,*

Dimitri knew something was wrong the moment he reached for his jacket. His cell phone was vibrating violently before it would stop, only to start again. He pulled it free and pressed the connect call to Pierre. He had to hold his other hand over his ear so he could hear what the other man was saying.

“What?” Dimitri demanded again.

“The old woman is Eloise Ferguson. She booked a flight to Moscow the night after the shooting. She hasn’t returned,” Pierre said. “The kid remembered seeing her in a movie. I found out that she bought the gun from a pawn shop the day of the shooting.”

“Do you know where she might be now?” Dimitri asked before turning around and seeing the face of the woman he
was asking about. “Never mind,” he said, disconnecting the call.

He walked slowly forward at the same time as he heard a scream and several loud shots. His blood froze as the world around him seemed to stop. His eyes widened in fear before tears filled them as he realized he was witnessing something he never believed in… an act of undying love and sacrifice.

Micha sat in his small office and listened as the clock struck the first sound of midnight. He poured himself a shot glass of vodka and raised it to his lips. His old hand trembled as he looked at the picture of his lovely wife and young son who were killed in the war over fifty years ago on Christmas
Day. Tears filled his eyes as he lifted them from the picture to the window of his office. His eyes froze on the Christmas rose.

He set the glass down on the scarred surface of the old desk with a small thud, spilling some of it onto the wood. Rising out of his seat on shaky legs, he moved as if in slow motion. He took his battered cap off the peg by the door
before slowly opening it. He walked toward the beautiful plant pausing as a petal fell with each sound of the bell’s toll.

“Oh little garden angel,” he whispered in a trembling voice and raised his eyes to the stained glass ceiling. “Please, she is needed here. Please, do not take her.”

*.*.*

Rune closed her eyes as the first toll of midnight sounded in the distance. She could feel the petals falling as the last rose bloom fell in time with the chime of the clock. It was time. She opened her eyes and stared at the crazed eyes of the woman in front of her. She would not allow any more of her loved ones to die.

She stepped around Sergei’s outstretched arm as Eloise raised the weapon in her hand. All around her, people stood like frozen statues. A sense of calm settled over her as she began to glow even brighter. She heard Simone’s scream as Eloise fired at Sergei and her. The bullets ripped through her chest, turning the white to red for a brief moment before disappearing.

“What are you?” Eloise whispered in terror as she dropped her hand to her side
in shock.

“I am Rune,” Rune said quietly. “I am the daughter of a Viking, the statue that watches over the children of St. Agnes and Sergei and Dimitri’s guardian angel.”

“Sergei,” Dimitri called out hoarsely as he ran up and ripped the gun from Eloise’s limp hand. “Are you… Rune,” his pain filled cry echoed. “No,
маленький огонь.
What have you done?”

Rune smiled tenderly at Dimitri as he walked toward her. She turned slightly to gaze at Sergei. A watery smile curled her lips as she begged him to understand. Finally, her gaze moved to Simone who
stood in shock, gazing at her in wonder.

“You were always so brave,” Rune murmured. “So kind, even when you were hurting from your own loss.”

“It was you,” Simone whispered. “When I was hurting. I could feel you, in the garden. Sister Theresa told me I could tell you anything and you would comfort and protect me.”

“You just needed someone to listen to you,” Rune said, touching Simone’s cheek. “You could always see more than the other children.”

Simone looked around her with a frown as she noticed that no one else was moving except for the five of them. She looked back at Rune in bewilderment. It was as if time stood still yet she could hear the sound of the clock in the great hall as it counted down the hour.

“How?” Simone asked.

“I don’t know,” Rune answered truthfully.

She turned her gaze back to Dimitri and Sergei who were watching her with barely controlled emotions as she stepped closer to them. She gazed at them tenderly, her heart breaking at having to say goodbye to them. Her hand trembled as she touched Dimitri’s cheek. A single tear coursed down it. She gently brushed it away with her thumb.

“I love you, Dimitri,” she murmured. “Never in all my lives did I expect to understand the true depth of love. I understand now what it means to love someone to the very core of my soul. You have touched mine and I will never forget that. No matter where I go.”

“
маленький огонь,
” Dimitri choked out, raising his hands to her face. “Please, don’t leave.”

“I have to,” she whispered brokenly.

Rune reached up and gently kissed his lips before reluctantly letting him go and stepping back. She turned to Sergei who stood stiffly, his fists tightly clenched at his side. Her face crumpled as she gazed up at his closed expression. He had never said that he loved her. It didn’t matter. She knew that he did. He had shown her how much every time he touched her.

“Don’t,” he began in a low, strained voice. “Don’t you dare leave us. You belong here, with us, with… me.”

Rune shook her head and laid her fingers gently against his lips. “I love you, Sergei,” she sniffed out.

Sergei shuddered and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, gone was the shuttered expression. His eyes were filled with intense desolation.

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in the curve of her neck. Rune held him tightly as his body shook violently. She threaded her fingers through his hair and gently cooed as low, choked moans escaped him. She held him until she felt the pull as the last few strokes of the clock rung out.

“Tell me,” she begged. “Please, just once. Tell me.”

Sergei pulled back and looked at her with eyes filled with agony. He kissed her, the salty taste of his tears mixed with his desperation. His hands cupping her face as he tried to hold onto her.

“I love you,” he whispered desperately. “Don’t, don’t go.”

“I love you both,” she whispered as the last sounds of the clock began to fade. “I’ll never forget you,” her voice echoed huskily. “I’ll never forget,” she said again before she faded away.

“No!” Sergei and Dimitri both yelled at the same time as everyone started moving again.

“Get her!” Petre shouted out as he wrapped his arms around Simone’s shaking figure. He turned so his body was between Simone’s and Eloise. Several of his security personnel rushed forward to grip Eloise’s limp figure. “Get her out of here and call the police. Where is Rune? Sergei? Dimitri? Where is Rune?” He asked looking around frantically.

“She’s gone,” Simone responded in a dazed voice. “She… she’s gone.

Sergei was on his knees on the floor where Rune last stood. Dimitri stood over him with his hand on his shoulder. Scattered all around them were the delicate red petals of the Christmas rose.

*.*.*

“Runa,” Olaf yelled as he ran toward her. “You came back!”

“Olaf,” Rune whispered before she collapsed in the green meadow with a low cry.

She felt Olaf’s thin arms wrap around her as she knelt in the grass, rocking as she sobbed. She thought there would be no pain in death but she felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest. She gasped as wave after wave of grief threatened to overwhelm her.

“Come with me,” Olaf said helping her to stand. “Mother and father will know what to do.”

Rune leaned heavily against her younger brother. He seemed taller, stronger than he had in real life. She let him guide her as she was too blinded by tears to see where she was going. All she knew was she wanted the horrible pain sweeping through her to finally take her away.

A small hut soon came into view. Horses, sheep and several dogs stood watching as they approached. Olaf called out a soft word of warning to the dogs who laid back down. The door to the hut opened and an older version of Rune stood in the doorway drying her hands on an off-white apron.

“
Runa
,” Asta rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her youngest daughter’s slender waist. “Oh Runa.”

“It hurts,
mor
” Rune whispered. “I love them so much. I can’t bear the pain of leaving them.”

“Oh child,” Asta said soothingly. “Come, tell us about them.”

Rune looked up as her mother turned sideways to give her room to enter the hut. Her eyes fell on the huge figure of her father. He didn’t say a word, just opened his arms wide for her. She rushed forward needing his strong, steady arms to comfort her.

“
Far
, help me,” she begged. “Please, help me return to them.”

“We will do everything we can, my Runa,” Sven murmured. “Now, dry your tears and tell your mother and I about them.”

Rune looked up into the twinkling eyes of her father. A small smile curved her lips and she nodded. She looked around the room for Dalla and Aesa before looking over at Olaf. She turned concerned eyes back to her parents.

“Aesa? Dalla?” She forced out.

“They have not come home yet,” Asta said as she set a bowl of stew and fresh bread on the table. “Now, tell us of your wonderful adventures.”

Rune slowly nodded and followed her parents and brother over to the long wooden table. Sitting on the bench, she drew in a deep breath wondering where to begin. She finally decided to start at the beginning.

“I’m sorry I did not keep Olaf, Aesa and Dalla safe,” she began. “We were several miles from home when we first saw the smoke….”

Over the next few hours, Rune related each and every life she had lived. Her voice grew soft as she talked about the children of St. Agnes and the nuns there that had touched her heart. The tears did not come again until she told them of her first meeting with Dimitri and Sergei. That was when she knew that she
could not go on without them.