Chapter Nine
As Mark walked out of Ethan's room, he wasn't surprised to find a servant out in the hall with his house shoes and robe. He finished buttoning up his shirt then put on the robe and shoes as he walked. He tied the robe closed as he headed down the stairs, Benjamin meeting him at the bottom.
Benjamin looked worried. Mark was confused and angry. All this time they had thought Will had shared a similar fate as Dark had: becoming that creature that roamed the grounds. It was that or they had just assumed the creature had killed Will like so many other servants. Instead, Will had been off living a life of his own.
Why had he returned now?
"He didn't say what he wanted," Benjamin said without being asked. "He just demanded that he speak with you. I urge caution. He might know the time is close." His tone turned even more serious. "He might want to make sure the curse remains unbroken."
Some viewed immortality as a curse, some sought after it.
The enchanted rose and the curse were the last things Mark wanted to think about right now. Even with the unexpected guest, one thing was still on his mind: Ethan. The anger and confusion Mark was feeling now was just fueling the desire he felt for Ethan.
Mark forced himself to push those feelings away before he decided to go back upstairs without first dealing with Will. He looked away from Benjamin and walked to the front door, which stood open, letting the smell of rain in. A light breeze blew, but Mark was still hot under the collar. And that wasn't because of the anger or confusion.
Will was standing out in the rain, which was just a drizzle. Mark was surprised by the fact that his old friend hadn't changed. But then, he had been cursed with the rest of them. That wouldn't change no matter how far Will ran. Whether the curse was broken or not.
The man with Will was also someone Mark recognized: Detective Abe Lincoln. The defeated look in his eyes told Mark that he had been cursed as well. But Mark didn't remember him being there that night so was he cursed?
"You look surprised to see me," Will said. "You have something I want."
Mark's thoughts went to the rose, but what would Will want with that? Even if Mark kept the rose in the manor or not, the petals would still fall. Mark would continue to run out of time. "You've had plenty of time to get your things," Mark said. "Why show up now?"
"Because until now, finding you was impossible," Will said, glancing around in annoyance. "Almost as if you were hidden away until the time was right."
Mark didn't think some things were too far-fetched anymore. No one had ever trespassed until Ethan's friend had shown up. Fate had come to play the game. It was entirely possible that the manor had hidden itself from Will until now.
"And..." Will went on. "The thing I'm after arrived only recently."
"Ethan?" Mark asked before he could stop himself. Will's reaction confirmed that he was here for Ethan. "Ethan's not yours."
"He works for me."
"No, I don't," Ethan said, stepping up beside Mark. They weren't standing too close to each other, but Mark's thoughts went back to the bedroom. That animalistic feeling of lust... "What are you doing here, Colonel?"
"Rescuing you," Will said. "Brian seemed worried."
"Brian?" Ethan asked. "Brian went to YOU for help?" Apparently that had been the last thing he had expected his friend to do.
"He said you had gotten yourself a job you wanted out of," Will said. Mark couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not about what Ethan's friend had said. "You can imagine my surprise when I heard you had gotten a job working for my old friend Mark, whom I had thought disappeared off the face of the earth decades ago."
"I'm not exactly working..."
"Kidnapped! Imprisoned!" Will said. "No wonder your friend was worried. You're lucky I got here in time. Let's go."
Ethan looked at Mark then back at Will. "I'm not going," he said. "Brian was mistaken. He didn't know the whole truth."
"You WANT to stay here?" Will asked incredulously. "Do you know WHAT he is?" Mark cringed at the words, instinctively stepping further back into the shadows. He kept his gaze away from Ethan even though he knew Ethan didn't care about his looks.
Right?
"I know," Ethan said. "And I don't care."
Silence. There must have been something in Ethan's voice that Will picked up on because he stopped to stare at the both of them.
"I DID get here just in time," Will said. "He's a monster, Ethan. Do you really think he cares about you? He only cares about himself. He's just using you for his own gain. He was sexually frustrated years before he was cursed. And after Celine, it's understandable that he now aches for cock -"
"STOP," Mark growled, stepping back out of the shadows to stare Will down. "How do you know what happened with Celine?" Other than Ethan, Benjamin had been the only one Mark had told. It was entirely possible that Celine had said something, but why tell Will?
"It's sad that after all these years, you still haven't figured it out," Will said. "You've had a lot of thinking time available, but of course Celine was the last thing on your mind." All of a sudden, he pulled a gun out and aimed it at Mark. "Celine was mine and I wanted you to suffer for even thinking about her. It was a good thing she wasn't that interested in you."
Mark stood frozen in place as reality sunk in. His thoughts went back to where he didn't want to go. He had only dredged up the memory for Ethan because he had wanted Ethan to understand. Not to get into Ethan's pants. His intentions had never been that. He just wanted to know if Ethan would take him as is. Complete with the past he had before he was curse. A past he was learning was even worse than he had remembered.
Mark and Will had grown up together. Mark had once thought of him as his best friend. A best friend he had thought had been lost to the curse. A best friend who had betrayed him.
"You were too emotional for her," Will continued, burying the figurative knife deeper into Mark's back. "She needed a real man. A man who could prove himself to her."
"And you're that man?" Mark asked, his voice calm, but his temper rising. "You set me up. I was raped and then you made me believe you were still my friend."
"You never confided in me!" Will shot back. "What kind of friend was I to you, really? I guess it's not too late to say that Celine and I also cursed you."
"You and Celine..."
"It was a perfect plan," Will said. "Once you swore off any thought of love, it was easy to seal the deal. You'd be a hideous beast and probably kill the rest of your servants and I'd be immortal."
"And where's Celine now?"
Will's determination faltered slightly. Celine was a sensitive subject for them both. "After you were cursed she...left."
"So she wasn't interested in you either."
"Mark..."
Mark turned his head and looked at Ethan. It didn't bother him that Ethan was hearing all of this. It was actually the only comforting thought about it all. Ethan was looking at him sympathetically, not pitifully. Ethan obviously had his own opinion about Will. An even lower opinion about him now, it seemed.
"Ethan's coming with me," Will said, getting back to the reason he was here. Did he really think he had control over everything just because he had a gun? Mark was tempted to just say shoot and be done with it. Will would get what he wanted and Mark would be free of the pain.
"I didn't have the courage to stand up to you before," Ethan said, stepping forward to face Will. "I'm NEVER going to work for you."
"Then what will you tell your friends?"
"The know -"
"They know only what I tell them."
"What do you mean?"
"How long do you think you've been here?"
"A few days..."
"It's been a month, Ethan."
"A month?" Ethan couldn't really believe that, but wasn't anything possible? After all, he had been told that time worked differently here. And his time spent here HAD felt like a lot longer than just a few days.
"Brian came to me for help nearly a month ago," the Colonel said. "I told him I'd take care of everything. When the manor refused to show itself, I told your friends that I had found you and you were working with me and that's why you didn't come home."
Ethan was still confused by this. Brian and Kathryn knew he wouldn't work for the Colonel. Brian even knew about the manor and thought someone would have to stay behind...
Brian's decision to go to the Colonel was starting to make sense. Brian had thought that the Colonel could get trapped in Ethan's place so Ethan could walk free. Ethan could forgive him for that now.
"Also a little detail," the Colonel went on, obviously picking up on Ethan's confusion. "If you're not cursed, the longer you're away from the manor, the more you forget about it and the curse." He looked past Ethan and at Mark. "Which is why you were forgotten so quickly."
"So now Brian just thinks I went to work for you?" Ethan asked. Kathryn hadn't known about the curse unless Brian had said something.
"Of course," the Colonel said. "Now let's go. They might want to hear from you and I can't make up anymore excuses as to why you can't talk -"
"Why are you in such a hurry to get me out of here?" Ethan asked. "Because of the curse?" How much time was actually left? Especially considering the fact that he had been here for a month.
A month. That explained why he felt so strongly about Mark. Without knowing it, those feelings had had time to develop. His heart knew how long it had really been.
"You don't want to be cursed -"
"But then I'd be like you, immortal," Ethan said. "If you want me to work for you so badly, it makes sense you'd want to keep me around."
"You wouldn't be cursed if you stayed," the Colonel said carefully. And a bit reluctantly as if confessing something. "It wasn't supposed to be this way."
"What -"
"He doesn't get the happy ending," the Colonel said then pulled the trigger.
Ethan thought he had been shot until he heard Mark's strangled gasp followed by the dull thump of something hitting the floor. Ethan turned to see Mark on the floor, blood forming a pool around him.
"Mark!" Ethan shouted just as he heard the Detective ordering the Colonel to drop his gun. Ethan paid them no mind as he ran over to Mark and dropped to his knees by his side.
Just then a loud roar could be heard. Ethan knew what it was even though it could have been thunder. Rain started pouring harder. Lightning flashed, bathing the yard in light.
Benjamin was dragging Mark further inside. Ethan scrambled back to his feet and over to the door, pausing at the sight before him.
The Detective and the Colonel were arguing. Ethan couldn't hear what they were saying over the sound of the pouring rain. So they couldn't hear the creature approaching. Ethan opened his mouth to warn them, but no sound came out. What if his warning attracted the creature this way? Ethan slammed the door shut as the creature grabbed the Colonel, dragging him off into the darkness. He didn't hear any gunshots, but he did see, through the window, the car driving away. Abe was running. Ethan would have too.
"Ethan!"
Ethan turned at the sound of his name and hurried over to where Benjamin was with Mark. They were on the floor underneath the mirror Ethan had seen when he had first walked in. The mirror that had sent a chill down his spine.
The mirror that wasn't a mirror anymore. A room was being shown that Ethan didn't recognize. In that room was a table and on the table was a dying rose. Ethan was too enraptured by the sight to do anything. As he stood there watching, a petal fell. Only one remained.
"Ethan..."
Mark's voice pulled Ethan out of his daze. He knelt down beside Mark. Benjamin was doing what he could to stop the bleeding, but without a doctor...
"I can't leave..." Mark managed to say as if reading Ethan's mind. But what else would he be thinking? "Even if I could...it's too late."
Ethan glanced up at the rose displayed in the mirror. "The last petal..." he muttered. He looked back at Mark. "I really couldn't have helped, could I? At least you won't be a monster." His voice was suddenly choked up. The tears fell when Mark reached over and took his hand.
"I'm not saying goodbye," Ethan said before Mark could say anything. "It shouldn't end like this. It can't end like this! It isn't fair!"
"Life's...not fair..."
Ethan wiped his face with his free hand. "Don't give up, we'll get you help," he said. "Even if I have to bring the fucking doctor here." Benjamin had moved away. Was he giving up as well?
"Never make it," Mark said, his strength slowly fading away. "But thank you."
"Don't thank me," Ethan said, wiping away more tears. "I didn't help you."
"You showed me...so much," Mark said. "I was...finally happy." He gave a weak smile that broke Ethan's heart even more.
"Mark..." Ethan looked down when Mark's grasp on his hand relaxed. An anguished roar came from outside. Ethan looked up at the rose in the mirror. The last petal had fallen.
Time had run out.
"No," Ethan heard himself muttering it over and over again. He grabbed onto Mark and shook him. "Not like this." Nothing he did woke him up. He put his arms around Mark, laying against him as he sobbed.
The depth of his feelings surprised him. He didn't think anything could hurt this much. But, in his heart, he knew why. It was the same feeling he had thought about during their passionate embrace upstairs only a few moments ago. Who knew something so good could fall apart so fast?
Ethan hadn't gotten the chance to confess it before, but he said it now. Just three words he mustered out between sobs:
"I love you."