Chapter 12
The touch of warm soft lips on my forehead roused me from the most incredible dream. In the bliss filled hours of unconsciousness, I had never felt so loved, so cherished, and so madly in love that even I could barely even begin to understand how I felt. At the same time there was this whole underlying notion that it was secretive, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't understand why. And what was worse, was that as consciousness flittered to me, the face of the person that inspired all of these feelings slipped away with the last vestiges of the dream like a name whispered on a breeze.
My eyes opened and blinked rapidly before I was forced to shut them once more in a futile attempt to relieve the intense stabbing caused by the bright light. I groaned and attempted to lift my arm and rub my closed lids but as my fingers twitched my whole arm erupted in an intense throbbing pain and it was then that I started to feel other aches and pains erupting all over my body. Groaning once more, I squeezed my eyes together tightly and grit my teeth as a wave of pain rolled through my limbs and every fibre of me was urging me to tense up but the tightness of my skin wouldn't let me. Letting out a gasp, my chest rose and fell rapidly as I tried to regain my breath and sometime during this I sat up but immediately regretted it when my side stabbed with pain. I didn't know where one ache ended and another began other than the fact that my whole body felt that it had been beaten black and blue.
A hand on my shoulder caused my eyes to snap open and a startled breath to escape my lips. I stared into a pair of icy blues that momentarily confused me as I was so unused to the emotion displayed within them. Lucius frowned, before gently pushing me back into the soft pillows, his brow wrinkled into a mask of concern.
"You need to lie down, you shouldn't be moving yet." He said softly as his hand moved from my shoulder and with more tenderness than I ever thought him capable of; he brushed a strand of hair out of my face before stroking his fingers down my cheek. "You've been asleep a while but you need to rest up so I can get my assistant back."
I tried to smile at him only to wince when I felt the dull ache in my cheek. My mind was trying to process his words but I felt sluggish and it took me a few minutes to fully comprehend them. I didn't even notice that I had leaned into his hand and had let my eyes flutter closed in exhaustion until someone cleared their throat. Opening my eyes once more I followed the sound of the throat clearing to see Mr Watson sat in one of the chairs holding a sleeping Danny whilst Ezekiel stood against the back wall with his hands folded across his chest, his face completely blank. I frowned at Ezekiel, not sure why I disliked his expressionless face so much, before Lucius' words truly hit.
"How long was I out?" I tried to ask but my throat was dry and felt like I had spent hours screaming at the top of my lungs. Lucius seemed to understand though as he perched down on the edge of the bed and after a quick glance over his shoulder at Mr Watson he turned his face back to me smiling grimly.
"You've been unconscious for a week. The fire alarms went off and the sprinklers managed to douse the flames before they did much damage but it took us a while to find you because of how much you were buried under." I frowned, buried under what? Flames?
"What? What flames? What's going on? Why am I even in here?" the questioned came out in a choked whisper as I tried to sit up again but Lucius kept a firm hand on my shoulder to keep me down. His face held even more concern as his eyes bored intensely into mine; probing for something though I wasn't too sure what, as I stared straight back.
"What is the last thing you remember?" he asked after what seemed like an eternity. His tongue darted out to lick his full bottom lip in a nervous gesture, his hand digging slightly into my shoulder as he waited for my reply.
My eyes looked past his shoulder as I concentrated. With absolute clarity I could remember everything up to that meeting with the rivals then everything was fuzzy, like it was there but someone has tried to delete it and it left a residue, a faint imprint of what couldn't be truly seen. I reiterated all of this to Lucius and he seemed to mull over my words with profound concentration whilst I tried to focus on the ghostly face that was just out of my reach but I knew was significant somehow. Scrunching my brows together, I focused harder only for a pain to shoot through my skull in warning before I felt wetness leaking from my nose. A soft tender handed reached up and brushed it away before pulling their hand back that was now covered in blood, my blood.
Opening and closing my mouth a few times I didn't know what to say, was there something wrong with me? If concentrating gave me a nose bleed does this mean I'm going to die? Suddenly the blood on Lucius' hand had a whole new, more sinister meaning and I couldn't stop myself from hyperventilating. The beeping of the heart monitor picked up as my chest rose and fell more rapidly, and I faintly heard deep voices conferring around me but I was too caught up in the haze to try and comprehend what they were saying.
The touch of warm lips on mine startled me, and I gasped against them before melting into the kiss. My breaths came less laboured allowing my eyes to focus on the face before me. I stared into Lucius' eyes and knew I should pull away but I found his touch strangely calming, like he was taking away all of my panic, all of my fears until I felt happy and content. I was awed by the sensation but without the worries and fears to distract me I truly looked at him. I felt like I could see into his soul as he parted my lips and deepened the kiss. It made my heart race and my skin burn with an unseen fire as I rested the palm of my uninjured hand on his chest, liking a little too much how his muscles rippled under my touch. His soul was so dark but at the same time it had a light to it, one that was hidden under many layers of blackness that had formed over his many years of masquerading as the bad guy. It thrilled me to know that there was something valuable within him but I couldn't focus on that fact as I was enjoying his kiss too much.
The sound of someone clearing their throat drew my attention; I pulled back from Lucius giving him a small smile which I'm sure didn't mask my uncertainty at his kiss. Turning my attention to the perpetrator, my eyes fell on Ezekiel who had taken a step further into the room but the expression on his face, for some reason deep in my heart, caused an overwhelming sense of guilt for allowing the kiss with Lucius to last as long as it did. But even more puzzling was the uncaring expression on Ezekiel's face hurt more than anything I could ever have imagined so that I felt like I was having a heart attack of some sort.
"If you two are quite finished," his voice was grouchy and made me shift under his gaze, trying to hide away from the disapproval that was radiating from him. "We will wait for you to be discharged and then I think it best if Miss Holmes is kept under constant surveillance until the perpetrators are caught. There will be one from each side so there will be no lack of protection. I will take first watch and you two can fight it out for other guard duty." Lucius and Mr Watson nodded in agreement with him whilst I just gaped at him. Did he seriously think I was going to stand by and let them mollycoddle me because of a fire?
Reaching behind me, I removed the pillow from behind my back using my good arm and hurled it at Ezekiel , feeling rather pleased when it smacked into his face. His mouth dropped open in shock whilst my hand moved to cradle my sore ribs and a light raspy laugh escaped my lips. I cleared my throat before setting a hard stare on the three of them.
"One, I will not be talked about like I am not here, two, why the hell do I even need to be mollycoddled, give me a few days and I'll be right as rain." I tried to be chirpy but in reality I just wanted the lot of them to bugger off so I could get some sleep, though hopefully after I got home because this bed was bloody uncomfortable.
Out of the corner of my eyes I noticed them all shifting uncomfortably, their eyes having a silent conversation with each other before they all nodded in some silent pact. I rolled my eyes resisting the urge to pout and fold my arms across my chest.
"Miss Holmes-" Mr Watson started but I shot him a glare so he balked a moment before smiling softly at me. "Savannah, you have several burns and some damaged ribs, it's not as serious as it could have been but you need to sleep and to take it easy for a few days and the boys will help you with that. You can't be handling Danny with those injuries; you'll end up hurting yourself even more." My gaze travelled away from Mr Watson who was giving me a fatherly look and instead focused on my bandaged arms and then letting out a sigh. I hate the fact that they have to take care of me. Especially Lucius, he's a player and a pain in my ass. The fact that I kissed him back is going to haunt me for the rest of my life and give me nightmares because I went against everything I believe in by allowing him to do it. At the same time though, it didn't really bother me because I didn't feel the insane desire to jump him and make him Danny's new daddy, I just felt mellowed out and contented, like he had literally taken away all of my worries and fears with a kiss.
Shaking my head, I stared down at my more injured arm with a sigh. "Fine, but just to warn you, Danny is teething so he isn't going to be sleeping to well; I'm surprised he's even asleep right now." I looked over to Mr Watson. He had Danny cradled in his arms, my baby boy was fast asleep and was making my heart want to melt at how beautiful he was. His little lips were parted as he hung limply in Mr Watson's arms, his chest rising and falling in time with his steady breathing. At least someone was able to get some sleep, I thought with a snort.
Mr Watson pushed himself up from the chair, his suit looking incredibly wrinkled as he approached the bed. He placed the sleeping baby into my arms with a gentle smile. I managed to get comfortable enough so that he wasn't leaning too much on my injured arm and just stared down at the snoozing baby feeling strangely content even though my life seemed to be going to hell right now.
"I'm off now poppet," Mr Watson leant forwards and gave me a fatherly peck on my forehead, being very careful not to jostle any of my injuries before he stepped back and gave me a smile. "The nurse wants to keep you in overnight but I convinced her to let you get discharged early. I will have a nurse come around and tend to your injuries later on once you're settled in at your house. Don't worry they will sleep on camp beds. At least you are going to get free babysitters out of this deal." He nodded towards Lucius and Ezekiel and I couldn't stop a snort from passing through my lips. Yeah right, like I would trust those two with Danny.
Mr Watson must have seen my expression because he laughed and gestured to the pair of them. "Who do you think was looking after him whilst you've been sleeping?"
Glancing incredulously between the sullen pair, it was then that I also noticed the dark circles under their eyes which spoke a hundred times more than words. Danny was the king when it came to giving me dark circles, especially since he started teething. Another thought occurred to me as the nurse stepped into the room, clipboard in hand. "If they looked after him, does that mean that they actually changed nappies?" I had a teasing smile on my face as I spoke and the instant looks of queasy disgust on both of their faces was enough to make a laugh escape my lips. "What was it, mustard or guacamole?" I questioned watching with amusement as Lucius' nose wrinkled in disgust and Ezekiel gave a shudder.
"Guacamole, it's just not natural." Lucius voice sounded utterly horrified. Shaking my head whilst my fingers stroked the fine hair on Danny's head, I could stop grinning at his squeamishness. Who would have thought that the big bad manwhore would be scared of a little baby poop. At least I know how to scare him now, it's that or long term commitment but the second one requires effort and having to spend copious amounts of time with manwhore extraordinaire.
The nurse who looked to be in her late forties, came over and did a quick check over and then after making me answer a hundred questions on the most stupid subjects ever, she said that I could be discharged but only if I agreed to rest. I nodded and complied with all her terms knowing that as soon as I got home I would chuck any agreements out of the window. I don't do a week in bed; I have to do something, anything, even if it means I finally get around to unpacking the rest of my junk.
Mr Watson left with the nurse calling a hasty goodbye over his shoulder, his phone pressed to his ear as he talked rapidly into the handset looked concerned and a million other things. Lucius took Danny whilst Ezekiel helped me down from the bed, setting the novel he had been holding down on the bed. I don't know why but it stirred something in my head. Something vague but four words jumped out at me and I couldn't for the life of me work out where they had come from.
I picked up my coat and started to slip my arms into the sleeves but found it difficult with my injuries so Ezekiel helped, being ever so careful not to cause me any pain. Not that I would care, the pain medication nurse Molly gave me on her way out, made me feel like I was floating on clouds and all the pain of my injuries had dulled to a faint throb that barely registered in my mind. Trying to be as nonchalant as possible as Zeke did up the zip on my coat and readjusted the hood so that I was tucked up nicely; I asked what had come to mind.
"Hey, do you guys know what the book of Eve is?"
The room became so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Lucius and Zeke set their gazes on me intently and I suddenly felt like I had encroached into forbidden territory. Neither of them spoke and they both just looked at me as if waiting for something but when I didn't follow up with any other enquiries, they instead exchanged looks with each other and did the whole silent conversation thing again. What really annoyed me was that I wanted to be a part of it. If, out of everything bad that had happened I could only remember someone, or something, mentioning the Book of Eve then it was obviously of some importance but, as per usual, these two left me out of the discussion.
"Where did you get that name from?" Zeke asked trying to feign simple curiosity but it was blown on their bout of meaningful looks. I just wish I had the dictionary so that I could understand them too.
Rubbing a hand down my face, I let out a sigh and met his eyes. "I don't know, somewhere, nowhere. I just know that it's important but I don't know why." I grasped Zeke's book from the bed and smacked him lightly over the head with it before nodding towards the door. "Come on, let's get going before the nurse decides I have to stay here." Unwilling to let me walk, I was quickly scooped up into Zeke's arms whilst Lucius cradled Danny as he started to stir from his sleep. I smiled at the idea of these two being baby sitters but I knew it would be fun watching them, as the doctor said, I'm on bed rest.
As I bobbed along in Zeke's arms, I flicked open his book and frowned at the inside. The pages were filled with symbols, not unlike that font called dingbats. I couldn't understand a word of it but yet Zeke had seemed to be engrossed in the pages of this book many times. I turned the book upside down and tried reading it backwards just to see if it could make more sense but it was all gibberish to me.
"How can you read this? What language is this meant to be anyway?" I questioned as I frowned at the pages trying to get them to materialise into something coherent but nothing happened, if anything they all seemed to blur into one and made me head ache as I stared at the pages.
"It's Latin and yes I can read it." I could feel Zeke's chest vibrating as he spoke but I just looked at the side of the face as if he was stupid. Did he really expect me to believe that this is Latin? I've seen Latin and this is definitely not it. If he said Ancient Egyptian it would have been more convincing. I didn't let him know I knew though, I just nodded trying to keep the suspicion out of my face. Why would he lie about something like that? What is he trying to hide?
I was snapped from my thoughts when the book was snatched from my grasp a moment before I was placed in the backseat of some huge tank of a car. I was no Greenpeace supporter but damn did they have to get the gas guzzler to pick me up? Lucius walked around the other side and strapped Danny into the car seat next to me and then hopped into the front. I watched Zeke through the still open door as he watched around like some sort of paranoid spy, trying to look for people who were a threat before he shook his head and then looked through the open door to me.
"Aren't you going to move over? I need to get in too." He taunted with a cheeky smile. It was strange to see him looking so lively but at the same time I relished any emotion he showed that wasn't apathy. I shifted awkwardly into the middle of the back bench of the car and quickly strapped myself in as Ezekiel slid in beside me and slammed the door shut.
"Okay campers are we ready?" Lucius asked as he put the car in gear and without waiting for a response, pulled out of the parking space and into the stream of traffic. It wasn't until I noticed we were on the motor way going in the opposite direction of my house that I decided to question him.
"Where are we going again?" I tried to be light and carefree but to be honest after everything that happened I wasn't going to trust anyone, at least not completely. I gripped onto the edge of the seat, my fingers digging into the plush leather as I anxiously waited for his reply. Lucius glanced at me in the rear view mirror before sending me a smile.
"Where do you think we're going?" He asked with a laugh before turning his attention back to the road. "We're going to my house of course." His tone was smug and all I could do was lean back in the chair and enjoy the ride only one thought running through my mind. Oh please god don't let it be a shag pad.
Okay, sorry the chapter ended so suddenly. i was going to include them arriving at his house in the chapter but I need to go to bed and I promised that I would have a chapter up tonight so here it is. Anyways don't forget to comment and let me know what you think. :S