Chapter 5

Therese

Thomas for all of his youth has had a sobering lesson in the unfairness of life, and the necessity of finding strength from the inside. He tells me of the first days after the fall, and the progression of days from pain and disbelief to resignation, to a new found hope that somewhere, someone will find a cure for his injuries.

Victor has asked that Thomas and I go to one of the locked rooms in the north wing of the sanitarium. Meeting him, we enter a room with tiles covering the floor and running up the walls. There is a table to one side, shelves above, and in the center of the room, a large copper covered table.

Thomas reaches for my hand, giving it a quick squeeze as one of the helpers lifts him to the table. We refrain from eye contact; we do not want Victor to know we have seen something like this before.

Victor

It is time to try a new treatment for Thomas. His work with Therese is keeping him occupied, but I can see that he is becoming depressed over the lack of any real progress.

I have outfitted my operating theater with a static electricity producing device. I will use the machine to induce electrical currents into his legs to stimulate the muscles. From within, his body will experience the contractions. It is my hope that this stimulus will start intuitive repairs by his body.

I have an orderly put him on the table. He is still in a nightshirt. I have Therese bring a sheet to place over him, and attach the wires to his legs with tape. Turning him, I push up the material, and attach one at the base of his spine.

I start the device, my back is to Thomas, but I can see Therese watching me. I turn towards her as the device starts producing a spark between two small spheres. There is no reaction in her face, but her eyes watch the spark. Do you remember yet, my dear? I pause to look down the length of the table at her, "Therese, bring me that gauze and the blocks of wood, please."

She brings me the items I have asked for; I take them from her, my one hand under her wrist. Do you remember the wrappings, the bit in your mouth, the terrible coursing of the spark through your body? She glances at Thomas. "There will be a bit of discomfort," I tell him. I use the words I gave her as she lay on the table.

She looks into my eyes. No words are necessary. She does remember.

Therese

I cannot hide the truth from Victor. I do remember the awakening. The one thing he doesn't know is how I have been told the rest of it, or met the 'Demon' man in the Abbey, my intended husband.

What kind of man are you Victor? You are a doctor, a healer, you took the dead from their sleep and used them for your experiments. I did not ask to die, and my new fate has been decided by you. You have brought me back to be the companion of a once dead man.

I have seen the strange scar under the dark tendrils of Astrid's hair. You took her from death as well, didn't you? I wonder if she was to be the mate; did her childish brain ruin your plans. And now what of her, you steal into her room and use her body. Will you prostitute me as well to further your schemes? How many men will I have to satisfy for you? You planned to give me to your first creation, but something went wrong didn't it. You traffic with him, although he hides from you and warns me about you. What goes between you?

Victor rolls Thomas on his back and begins the treatments. At first there is a small series of shocks. He asks Thomas to report how severe the feeling in his body is. At first there is none, only the flinch of a muscle under the wire.

Then Thomas makes a sound, "I felt that," he reports.

"Good, Thomas," Victor says soothingly. "That means not all of your nerves were damaged in the fall." They repeat the treatment; at time I can see in Thomas' eyes that there is pain. He holds my hand, for I am the other person who has felt the stinging power of the spark. Victor moves close to him, saying quietly in his ear, "I'd like to place another electrode. I want to know what you will be capable of."

Thomas glances at me, and I move to the head of the table, beyond the view of what Victor does under the sheet. I place a hand on Thomas shoulder, showing him I am there for him, that I hope as well that this one function can return. If so, he would be capable of producing an heir on a willing woman even if he couldn't walk again. It is the difference between living as a sad shade, and being a vital man once again.

Victor turns up the device, and I see a flagging in the spark, as some of it siphons off along the wire. Thomas lays still, eyes staring above him. Victor tries again, and then raises an eyebrow. "Well, Master Wetherden. We shall have to do more of these treatments." I stare into Victor's eyes.

He makes to remove the wires and tossing them aside carelessly he leaves. Thomas licks his lips, "Therese? Will you leave me for a moment?" I nod, for looking beyond the edge of the sheet is Thomas' fierce erection. I undo his bound hands and leave the room. I do not return until I hear his hoarse cry of fulfillment.

Victor

There was a spark of independence in Therese's eyes as she watched me. I cannot allow it. I am her master, she will learn. If she will not bend, then I will break her. I will be able to control Master Wetherden. After all, a man will do anything to be a man.

The Demon

I have found Victor's new defense. Along the woods near the Abbey, someone has placed traps. I could easily break them, but I leave them. I check several other ways into the grounds for similar traps, and find them. Unless Victor is smart enough to have them moved, I know exactly where I can and cannot step. I am not a dumb animal.

I have made peace with the horses in the stable. I bring them a bit of apple or fresh grass. They no longer are nervous of my presence. The dogs on the grounds will not traffic with me. Being they were fashioned to live and defend a pack, they will always see me for an intruder. Regardless of this, I am in the stable loft in the early mornings.

I wait nearby, taking in bits of conversations. The man Ragache is coming back in a few days. And it appears he is jealous of his cousin, the young man Thomas. I already do not like this Ragache. Thomas has been a friend to my wife, and I need him to be a buffer for her from Victor. His interest in her will guarantee Victor does not try to remove her from here.

One bit of gossip slips through the servants who are doing the washing in a small building. They say that Frau Radmacher sees Therese coming from Thomas' room at night. I clasp my hands together, resisting the urge to smash through the bricks of the building. I flee the grounds, back to one of the forested areas at the boundaries of the property, smashing tree branches out of my way as I run.

My wife is with another man. I feel the tide of anger rising in my body. I tamp it down. I need to control the rage, the hatred. It is Victor who is responsible. From the moment he took a scalpel to the pieces of my body, it has been Victor who has controlled all of our fates. It was Victor who planned to finally rid himself of me. During my healing, he has tossed Therese and Thomas together.

I must talk to her. I must make her understand. She is my wife.

Therese

I retire that night after tucking Thomas in. He has reported feeling strange ghostly pains from the shocks. It is my sincerest hope that it is not a memory kindled by the electricity, that it is a genuine attempt by his body to reawaken the feeling he has lost.

Putting on my nightgown, I pull back the covers of my bed. I see something lying on the sheet. It is a piece of wire. I remember the Demon's words, "I watch you."

The Demon

I see the faint white of her nightgown from under the robe as she moves in the dark. She is going to the Abbey thinking to find me there. Unfortunately, Victor has chosen the same night to watch over her.

Therese

I carefully pull open the abbey door as to not make a sound. The darkness is relieved a little by the moon. The shafts of light pointing to the table reflect off enough to make out more of the dimensions around me. I do not call out, I move to the table. As I reach it, I hear his voice, "I knew you remembered, my dear."

I look in the direction that Victor stands, he comes into the light at the other end of the table. "You want to know, don't you? I would."

I reply, "Yes."

His face reveals a broad smile, "What was lost has been found, I see. And such a lovely voice you have, Therese." He steps forward, and raises a hand to brush my cheek. "You are a handsome woman in your own way. Lovely wavy hair," he reaches for the end of a lock on my shoulder and rubs it between his fingers. "Plain, but well formed features. I do like your nose as well."

I resist the temptation to ask if he would cut it off and give me another if he didn't.

"How much do you remember? Hmm?" He prompts me.

"I remember the power of the lightning, the sounds and the pain, and my blood. I was murdered wasn't I?"

"Yes, my dear. I am sorry. You were found raped and stabbed to death. The man was never apprehended." He turns, leaning against the table. "I have a confession to make, Therese. You are not the first to be here."

"What do you mean?" I ask. Let him tell me, I want to see how far he will go.

"I have been working for over nine years to learn the secrets that only nature could reveal about the finality of death. My Mother died after ministering to Elisabeth when she had the scarlet fever. It was that loss that turned my studies from the simple relief of suffering to the recreation of life."

"You call this life?"

He seems shocked, "You are alive again, Therese. Look at yourself," he pulls the robe aside. "You are completely healed. You can go forth and have a husband, find a life for yourself." His fingers drift down the lapels of the robe over my breast and down to my belly. "No one will know except us."

His eyes are two glittering points in the darkness. His voice sounds so reasonable, so persuasive. "You mean I'm free to be a whore like Astrid?"

This brings him up short, "No. Astrid was burned out by the storm. She will only ever be a child. I will take care of her."

He plays the part of caring physician so well. "Everyone knows you make love to her, Victor. She is a noisy 'child'."

He grabs the lapels and pulls me against him. "Let me tell you something before you fill your head with superior airs, girl. Both Astrid and you were created to be the mate of my first creature, a wretch so loathsome, so hideous that I have sought to destroy him. He was made from the flesh of murders."

"So I was brought back to be given to a man?" I asked. "What is your definition of life Victor? As far as I can see it revolves around someone owning my body."

He pushes me up against the table, and stands over me, tall and immoveable, a hand on either side of the table behind me. "I don't understand your reluctance, my dear." He gives a short laugh, "After all, you have been busy with our Master Wetherden, haven't you? Have you managed to make him hard yet?"

I blink at that. Not so much as for the rudeness of his words, but the fact that he thinks that's all I want from Thomas. He must take my silence as an affirmation of his suspicions. "I can give him back his stiff prick." He walks away. "Just think of it, Therese. You could leave here the paramour of a rich man. He has an estate in England I understand. You could live comfortably."

"And what of your man, Victor," I ask.

He makes a disgusted noise. "The fiend will be run to ground soon enough. He waits out there somewhere." He looks towards the door and starts pacing. "We made a deal, he and I. He was lonely, he said, couldn't find a companion, he told me. When he found out that Elisabeth and I were to marry he started on this path of my creating a woman for him. No human woman would want him, my dear. He is monstrous." He stops and considers me, "He promised to kill Elisabeth if I didn't provide a mate. I am sorry, Therese, but that is why you are here."

He sounds genuinely contrite. I wonder why the Demon has threatened Elisabeth. Doubts now come between me and the man who kissed me here in the night not long ago. Is Victor telling me the truth?

The Demon

I step out of the shadows of the floor above and drop behind Victor. Taking his neck in my hands I give him a good shake and pull him against me. "Your time is up Victor."

I glance at Therese. She is looking at my face.