Chapter Eighteen: Gathering Storm
Thomas
I get assistance from one of the orderlies and join the Frau near the wagon. Victor stands staring listlessly at the tarp.
"What has happened, Herr Doctor?" The Frau asks.
"Elisabeth," he replies softly.
"What happened," I demand.
His unfocussed eyes swing to look at me. "Murderer," he murmers. "Murderer," he says again as he spins quickly and walks into the stable.
Victor
I find myself climbing the stairs in the stable. I bellow for Bretelle who gets up from a pallet on the floor of the loft. "Bring your rifle."
The Frau is still standing in the yard as I come down the stairs. "What happened," she questions me again.
"My wife has been murdered," I bite out. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes, and I dash them aside with a hand. My cheek is still swollen from the gash, but has finally stopped weeping blood. Its constant sting is inconsequential to the pain of my wife's death.
Bretelle comes out of the stable, and I order him to follow me to the old Abbey. "He's probably in there. Be careful, he can be quick."
Pushing open the door, I enter the building for the first time in months. All of my equipment has been removed, the table stripped bare. I indicate the stairs to the loft and wait for Bretelle. He ascends as I call out; "Come down, Sebastian!"
There are footfalls after Bretelle disappears from my sight. I do not hear a gunshot, and quickly mount the stairs. The loft is empty. A few crates occupy the space, but there are no signs of the demon. "Clever beast. He's already left." I motion Bretelle, "We'll have to hunt him down. Get two horses ready and I'll get food."
I start back to the Sanitarium and see the Frau has opened the tarp. Thomas Wetherden sits staring at Elisabeth's frozen features. They both look up at me.
Therese has turned them against me. I can see it in their eyes.
"Where are they?" I can hear the hatred dripping from my voice. These creatures that I struggled to bring forth have now turned on me. They have been adroit in their endeavors to plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of those who surround me.
I start back to the Sanitarium. Throwing open the doors I go to the kitchen and demand the cook pack food for a number of days. I pace the halls, stopping the servants and orderlies asking who has seen Therese.
After retrieving the bags from the cook, I pass through the conservatory and drop the food by the door. Going to my study I retrieve an old pistol I have kept that my Father gifted me with.
Thomas
I stare down at the startled features of Elisabeth's face. "My God. He killed her?"
The Frau stands beside me. "Her neck's broken. Possibly an accident?"
"No. She looks to be in a night gown. It's torn and there's blood on it."
"There's blood on Victor's face. You saw the gash." She replies glancing back at the house. "Here he comes."
Astrid has been standing inside the shadows of the stable door. Her eyes reflect pin points of light, and I feel an odd tingling as I look at her. As if someone has just walked over my grave. She disappears into the darkness of the stable without a word.
Victor
I dash to my wife's side and close the tarp over her face. "Leave her in peace," I spit at the two people who have remained to gawk at her.
I lift the pistol and point it at Thomas. "Where are they?"
His dark eyes bore into mine. "They left before you did Victor."
"That's impossible. The fiend killed Elisabeth. He said he would, and now he's done it!"
"He couldn't have," the Frau says. "They left the night before you did."
"Liar! Don't you see, he came back and killed her!"
I'll get nothing more from these two. Turning, I go to get my horse.
Bretelle is standing next to one, tying on the bags of food. "Hurry up. We have to pick up their tracks."
"Who else is with the man?" Bretelle asks.
"A woman he took from here."
Bretelle looks unconvinced. I point the pistol at him. "Get on the horse and start tracking him down!"
He looks down the barrel and me and then turns to put a foot in the stirrup. As he does I see Astrid moving behind him. Before I can speak, she stabs the man in the back.
He staggers, reaching backward for the knife that is standing between his shoulders. In my line of fire, I call out for him to move, but he still struggles to find the knife.
She pulls out the knife and I see her arm rise again and fall. Bretelle screams, clawing at his chest and blood spews from the corner of his mouth. She's found a lung. And here I thought Astrid was a stupid bitch.
Bretelle drops to his knees, and I pull the trigger. The blast from the gun is deafening. I do not know if Astrid screamed, the smoke from the muzzle obscures my vision. The force of the bullet has knocked her backwards. A hole appears just below her neck and blood fountains, leaving a spreading stain over her breast.
I climb on my horse and grab the reigns to Bretelle's, and turn the animals out of the stable.
Thomas
I warn the Frau to stand aside as the horses start towards the doors. Once Victor has past, we rush to Astrid's side. I slide out of my chair and onto the ground beside her. She is dying.
I lift her limp hand, and her eyes turn to me. Her voice is light but rasping, "Don't let him bring…"
"I know, Astrid. We won't let him bring you back."
She smiles. Blood has stained her teeth red. Her hand spasms as she begins to choke. Her body is wracked by coughing as her life's blood fills her lungs.
Finally she lets out a gurgling sigh and is still. Frau Radmacher closes Astrid's eyes. I say a quick prayer that God will not forget her. I also pray that Victor will not find Therese and Michael.
Therese
Michael cut down the limb of a tree as we walked down the French side of the Jura Mountains. Stripping it down, he uses it to walk with. He has started wearing the glasses that Thomas purchased for him. Yesterday we passed two men: A local farmer who works to keep the pass cleared, and a tinker with a small wagon. Seeing Michael's cane and glasses, he took pity on us and gave us a ride to town.
We chose to stay in a very small room in an older inn. We took our bowls of the stew that was offered for dinner and moved to a dark corner. Even sitting, Michael is a commanding presence. But once our fellow patrons saw the dark glasses, they lost interest in the tall man.
Our room is hardly bigger than the bed that occupies it. We take turns bathing, and I sit combing my fingers through my wet hair before the tiny stove that keeps the chill at bay. Michael takes a book from his pack, and reads to me. He promises to help me learn to read in English once we join Thomas.
Michael
I am relieved that we have made it without being followed. Walking into this village was the first test of my reception into the world of men. People have stopped to look at me because of my height and my facial scar. Seeing Therese walking with me and the dark glasses, they dismiss me as a harmless visitor in their midst.
We located the train station and picked an older Inn to occupy for the two days before we are set to meet with Thomas.
Alone in our room, we sit and relax. I have begun reading Paradise Lost to her. As I tire, I close the book and consider the title. When I was awakened under the lightning, my world was indeed lost to me. With Therese, it has become paradise returned.
All men born must accept who they are. There is little of our circumstances that we can change so radically that we could leave the person we were behind. Some thread of our existence will always be a tie that tethers us to what we were. I had everything I ever was ripped away from me. Now, I struggle to weave myself back into the fabric of the world.
There is one thing that I desire above all else. "Therese? Will you marry me?"
She smiles at me and then glances at the bed. Since we first made love, we have been together every night. But I want this last thing. "Before God, in a church, will you consent to be my wife?"
"Yes, Michael. I will marry you."
"I love you." I tell her this every day, and will for all the days I have left with her.
I cannot speculate as to what my physical age is. By my work as a professor, I know I must have been close to thirty when I was executed. The body Victor gave me is vigorous and shows no outward indications of its age.
Victor worked to remove the limitations that God left us with in his opinion. My joints were changed, my muscles torn and re-attached. I have no idea of what he might have done to all of the internal organs. Being I was dead, I don't know what the condition of my body is now, or how much it might regenerate.
Tomorrow we will meet Thomas at the station and I can finally leave Victor behind.
