Chapter 7
Morning came quickly over McKinley Castle. The rooster crowed the sun's arrival as it gently peaked over the rolling Scottish hills. Luckily for Murray, Nikola was awake long before then. He had his nose buried in the small canister that had been left carelessly by Ralph the night before.
It was sticky to the touch aside from the rain and smelt more like jam than acid.
He examined it carefully trying not to touch it with his hands, instead he used a cut out of sheet from his bed, he was sure the head maid wouldn't mind.
He sat back and let out a sigh.
He needed to talk to Helen before he proceeded with this he decided, and he left his room and grabbed the phone off its stand and dragged it and it's long chord back to his bedroom.
One day he'd invent a phone without wires.
He dialed Helen and rapped on the side of the table as he waited for her to pick up.
"Nikola, this better not be you," her sleepy voice grumbled over the line.
"Good morning love," he grinned. "I trust you slept well."
"Very. What do you want?" She muttered unhappily.
"I have an interesting prospect for you," he leaned back in his chair.
"Nikola, if this is a joke please hang up," she groaned.
"No, I'm serious, I've got a sample of the acid that this Ralph fellow has been using to terrorize your friend and I need it tested and I can't very well do it here and I can't very well leave..."
"I see," Helen's curiosity was piqued.
"I'm going to send it to you via express mail. Where's your little bird friend?" asked Nikola casually.
"Of course, that's your real ploy," Helen sighed. "I'll talk to him, but he's not a carrier pigeon, so don't treat him like one."
"Helen, this is kind of a timely issue, I haven't been here a week and he's already escalated from writing messages to fire arrows to attempted murder."
"Has he hurt anybody?" Helen asked, worry creeping into her voice.
"Not majorly, a few freaked out maids and some bruises, though he tried to take me out with the business end of a hammer," he said casually.
"Are you alright?" asked Helen.
"Helen, I'm touched, you sound genuinely concerned," he teased, placing a hand over his heart.
"I'm actually surprised you and Laren haven't killed each other yourselves yet," she teased back.
"No, we, uh, we haven't...I actually quite like her, you know she's not so bad once you get used to her," he smirked, his mind flashing back to her, last night.
"You slept with her didn't you?" Helen huffed.
"What? No! We just...I'm just saying that she's not as bad as I thought she was at first, I've absolved my original grudge, she's somewhat tolerable now," he said firmly.
"Well that's very mature of you," Helen said condescendingly. "I'll tell James."
"Thank you Mother," he said snidely.
"And Nikola..."
"Yes?"
"Take care of yourself, alright."
"Of course I will, you owe me dinner for this favor, I look forward to it."
"Wait I never said..."
"Gotta go. Miss you. Love you. Bye bye!" He hung up the phone on her and smiled with smug satisfaction.
Now to get this thing properly packaged for delivery.
He stood up and grabbed the telephone to put it back on it's table.
Without looking the long wire hooked on the underside of the canister and sent it hurdling to the floor, knocking its lid off and it's contents spilling to the floor.
Nikola spun around at the sound and made a startled noise. Afraid of the damage he must've caused and the hole the acid was no doubt creating in his floor. He turned around to see...a puddle...of deep red liquid...not doing much of anything.
"Hello?" he lent down to examine it. He sniffed it, dabbed a finger in it cautiously, tasted it. Ugh! Plants. Not acid...how could that be?
He picked up his scrap of cloth and used it to put the remaining liquid back in the canister and mop up the rest.
He took the rag over to the small basin to wash it out.
As soon as the cloth hit the water it disintegrated in a series of red acidic bubbles. Nikola's eyes widened and he pulled his fingers away before they melted.
He gaped at site of the acid as it gently dissolved with the water.
Organic acid activated by water? Was there such a thing?
He picked up the phone and dialed again.
"Nikola, you have got to be kidding me!" Helen cried.
"I just made a discovery Helen...and you are not going to believe this."
~~~~Later~~~~
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love- I and my Annabel Lee;
Nikola sat in his lawn chair as Fei Yin helped assist the other maids in hanging up the laundry.
It was sunny and warm out so naturally Nikola lounged in just a white shirt with his jacket draped over the back and his vest open and splayed to the sides.
He read a book of old poems, flipping through it lazily. It wasn't that interesting but it was enough so that he wouldn't get scowled at by the other maids for not helping.
He looked up and saw Laren coming out of the house with another basket of laundry. He couldn't help but smile and watch her as she joined the maids in laying out the long white sheets.
She smiled warmly at all of them and said a few words to each individually, as of she truly appreciated their help with the house.
Fei Yin was her last stop and her eyes flitted over to him, meeting his gaze for a brief moment
He smiled faintly then returned to his book.
Laren shook her head and looked back to Fei Yin and whispering to her lightly before both shared a laugh. Nikola couldn't help but feel she was trying to make him feel gossiped about.
He ignored it.
When he looked up again they were pulling out a long sheet and shaking it out together.
Nikola noted how she had found some new clothes with a smirk, she was still wearing his shirt which made his heart beat a little louder.
The few top buttons were left open, extending her long gorgeous neck, and the ends of the shirt were tucked into a pair of tight-fitting riding pants that hugged each one of her lower curves, matched with a pair of knee-high leather riding boots. She was downright delectable.
He shook his head, he was not supposed to have such thoughts about her, reminding himself their conversation last night.
He truly hadn't stopped thinking about her or the event that had affected such a switch in his feelings for her. From loathing to friendship and now to yearning. He'd had dreams last night, lustful and carnal dreams of the most tantalizing kind, with touches and fleeting glances of bare skin. When he had awoken, before he had gotten distracted by the mysterious canister, he had found himself left with the physical effects of what such dreams could do to a man.
It was only the distraction of a pressing matter that kept him from doing anything about it.
He had avoided her at breakfast, and stuck by Fei Yin most of the rest of the morning, only now had she made his way back into his sights, and she was dressed like that, just begging for him to watch.
She had a small undershirt beneath his that did very little to cover the cleavage peaking outside the opening of his shirt. With every shake of her arms, trying to shake the sheet of wrinkles, her body shook, and Nikola's eyes bulged with the wide eyes amazement of an adolescent in puberty.
Her blonde hair was brought back in a messy side bun, that framed her face and neck beautifully.
She practically glowed with heavenly radiance and Nikola caught himself staring again.
He coughed, crossed his legs and tried once more to bury his nose in his book.
It was in vain as his eyes wandered over again. He could still feel her fingers ghosting over his lips and teeth, probing his inner demon without fear, learning his deep, dark secret with such awe and affection. It haunted him a little. No one had ever effected him like this, no one but another blonde, now redhead that he so admired.
She moved away from Fei Yin, taking her now empty basket down the long lines to the dry sheets that had been hung up first.
He couldn't resist not going over there, not anymore.
She took the sheets down carefully and began folding them up neatly.
"Mind if I help," Nikola swaggered over with a grin.
"Nikola," she grinned back. "I thought you were so engrossed in that novel that's you'd be there for days not able to put it down."
Her tone was teasing and he rolled his eyes slightly.
"It's not Shakespeare but it was entertaining enough," he shrugged. "But I thought you could use a hand."
"What you could do is return all my clothes to me, luckily I had a few spares hidden around. Thanks for the shirt by the way, it's very comfy," she teased some more and he chuckled.
"I don't know, I kind of like this look on you," he eyed her up and down. "Very masculine but with a hint of cleavage, how all women should be attired."
It was Laren's turn to laugh.
"A fantasy of yours?"
"I do like a woman in trousers," he said with a mischievous grin.
"Hopefully not too much," she pulled down another sheet. "Sexist," she accused with a teasing smile.
"Trollup," he called her back, taking one end of the sheet to help her fold it.
"Airhead," she resumed the name calling.
"Bimbo."
"Sluuuut," she drew out the word with articulated precision.
It was very sexy.
He chuckled and brought his folded corners of the sheet to meet hers, and suddenly they were standing way too close to each other.
Nikola's eyes met hers and they both shared a small smile.
Laren broke first.
"Sleep well? I didn't hear you with the rooster this morning," she turned away and finished folding the sheet putting it in the basket.
"I was already up," he shrugged. "I was looking at the canister Ralph left last night and I noticed something."
"What is that?" Laren asked.
"Did you realize that Ralph only attacks when it is raining?" Nikola inquired with a slight grin.
"No, but yes he does," Laren blinked with the realization.
"It's because the acid he's using is only acid when it is mixed with water, something in its chemical make up makes it acidic or very acid-like anyways," Nikola explained.
"But how-"
"I know. Ralph doesn't look like the biological chemistry type, which makes me think he's the muscle man," Nikola grinned as if he'd solved the puzzle. Take that Watson.
"You mean?"
"That someone else is pulling the intellectual strings, yes," Nikola answered for her. "Which means that this is way more than a big brute with a bad crush."
"But he's only ever asked for Fei Yin...unless..."
"You said she was born Chinese, right?" asked Nikola. "From what I know of them, they have old ancient recipes of an organic nature kept safely secure through family secrets and locked memory boxes."
"Both of Fei Yin's parents are gone, as she never mentioned any others, that's why I brought her with me. Her family were protesting the government, they were our allies."
"I don't think it's her own family per se, might be a radical group of some sort trying to reclaim their fallen brothers and sister from the clutches of evil white men, unless you know of some personal enemy. You and your husband were heavily involved in the war if I recall you saying. Did he, or you make any kind of enemy?"
Laren bit her lip and mulled over his theories.
"I don't know, not anyone specific, not enough to have this kind of vendetta I don't think," she shook her head.
"Well, whoever it is, they are using Ralph as a weapon, possibly because he's big, brutish, skillful, and madly in love with an Asian flower that he doesn't know what to do."
"You think Ralph is just confused."
"Or scared, possibly for Fei Yin. Arrows are rather unpredictable weapons and so far I have not seen him make any direct grab for her and he definitely could have. In that market, he was watching us, and he is big and strong enough to have been able to attack us, knowing the police wouldn't try to stop him. But Fei Yin is not the main goal here, she's what he's trying to protect, I feel it."
Laren nodded.
"Seems like you're no longer just a bodyguard," Laren sighed. "Looks like you're chief of security."
Nikola chuckled slightly.
"I have always been more than a bodyguard," he teased and then walked away, resuming his seat in the chair and picking up his book.
Laren laughed and shook her head at him, the continued her folding.
"At least we know we're safe until the rain comes," Nikola added as an afterthought.
Before Laren could respond there was the distinct sound of a car honking in greeting to distract her.
Everyone dropped what they were doing and turned to see the car pull up.
Three men piled out of the car with joyous laughs and large smiles. One was old, getting into his sixties leading two Jack Russell terriers out of the car and a long hunting rifle under his arm. The other two were young men, brothers. An older one with shaggy brown hair and a large muscular build, and a younger one, his hair a fraction lighter, with a kind smile.
Nikola looked over at Fei Yin and saw her beaming at the younger one.
Ah, so this was the boy she had told him about. Well, he was handsome enough.
Nikola stood up and headed back over to Laren who was waving in greeting at the three men.
"Who are they?" Nikola asked, coming to stand next to her.
"Daniel, Finn, and Gruber," Laren smiled and kept waving.
"How Scottish," Nikola sighed.
"Born and bred and stubbornly so," Laren teased. "Gruber is the groundskeeper and his sons maintain the stables. They were off on a hunting trip, which means we'll most likely be eating venison tonight with some very good company."
Nikola made a content face at that.
"I prefer antelope but deer is nice," he restrained from licking his chops like an animal.
The younger, Daniel was his name spotted Fei Yin and his smile grew exponentially.
"Fei!" He called to her and began running over. "Look what I found for your collection."
His accent was thick but clean and easier to understand than most accents from this country were.
He held out a perfectly round stone, it almost looked like a marble, with deep and vibrant colors, possibly traces of quartz or some other mineral.
Fei Yin gasped and took it.
"It's beautiful," she sighed and smiled up at him. "Thank you."
"No problem, I found it and thought you'd like it," the young man nearly blushed.
And she thought this boy would never love her, young love...how idiotic, Nikola thought as he looked back at Laren. He knew what it was like to love somebody you could never have.
He sighed and put his hands on his hips as the older man hobbled towards them.
"Happy hunting Gruber?" Laren called to him as he got closer.
"Aye, de meck-in, do mi sheer see me loch," muttered the old Scotsman.
"Was that English?" Nikola whispered to Laren.
"He said, Aye but the gears in my old shooter are beginning to lock," Laren translated .
"I did not get any of that," Nikola shook his head.
Laren turned back to the old man.
"Did you manage to get anything?" she asked.
"Ach! Shurr de muin deh bach hoer du huek!" He grumbled again.
The old man muttered away and kept walking to the stable, his two yappy dogs following suit.
"What did he say?" asked Nikola.
"He said that they have everything packed in the back of their truck," said Laren.
"Was he speaking in code?" joked Nikola.
"You just don't have an ear for the language," Laren teased.
"What language? I know seven individually, that was not a language that was a stroke," Nikola commented and Laren laughed and swatted him playfully.
"You get used to it," she said with a smile continuing her folding.
Before Nikola could even comprehend a ball whooshed over his head.
"Oop, sorry," shouted the older brother, Finn.
Suddenly a myriad of dogs came barking towards them and Nikola instinctively pushed Laren out of the way and into the grass, landing on top of her as the dogs ran by after the ball.
"Are you okay?" Nikola double-checked to make sure he hadn't hurt her in the fall.
"I'm, I'm fine," Laren sounded slightly out of breath, possibly because the fall had winded her.
It was the first time either noticed their proximity and it made both their breaths catch.
"I...I hope I didn't hurt you," Nikola muttered.
"You didn't," she said, her tone matching his.
"I..."
"Yes?"
"Are you two alright? I didn't mean to be throwing the ball in your direction," the group of them, Finn, Daniel and Fei Yin ran up to them as Nikola quickly rolled off of Laren and got to hit feet to help her up.
"It's no problem," Laren quickly said as she got to her feet. "We're no worse for ware."
"I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting you, mister," Finn looked over at Nikola.
"No we haven't," Nikola responded, observing the man. He was young, but no younger than 28, very handsome too.
"Name's Finn," Finn held out his hand to Nikola and Nikola accepted it.
"Nikola, I'm the new chief of security," he said, extracting his hand after three firm shakes.
"My brother Daniel, and those three brutes that nearly stampeded you are Mac, Loch, and Charlie."
Nikola looked at the three large bloodhounds sniffing the ground behind them.
"Charmed I'm sure," Nikola felt the mysophobe in him cringe at the thick lines of saliva coming from each of their mouths.
"Why did you need to find yourself a chief of security, Lar?" asked Daniel.
"Well boys, we've found ourself a bit of a situation," sighed Laren.
"It's Ralph," interjected Fei Yin.
"He still bothering you Fei?" asked Finn, very brotherly.
"What has he done?" asked Daniel, placing a hand protectively on her arm. Her cheeks flushed at the contact.
"Nothing so far, but he is terrorizing the castle. He's been threatening the castle grounds, and has killed a dog, one of which must have belonged to you," answered Nikola.
"Which one?" asked Finn, his concern rising.
"I'm sorry Finn, it was Finian," Laren put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.
"Finian..." The emotion poured over Finn's face.
"I'm sorry," Laren said again.
"Did you bury him?" he asked.
"Yes, by the old tree," Laren nodded and Finn and Daniel sadly walked away, Daniel consoling his brother as best he could.
"That was rather...emotional," Nikola nodded.
"He raised that dog from a pup, I'd assumed he'd take it hard," sighed Laren.
"Ah," Nikola nodded.
He had that kind of experience with a pigeon once. The white dove...he had nurse her back to health and fallen for her completely, which was strange because she was an animal but the love was there. She imagined her voice, her spirit, could hear her thoughts through her soft coos as if she was an angel sent to him to look after him. She was the one that always came back...till she didn't and then he had fallen into a deep depression.
He sighed. He guessed a dog was no different than a pigeon in that sense. There he was again, following for something he could never have...or at least never have for long.
A thought struck him and he turned to Laren.
"Laren, I..."
"No, Nikola," she said as if reading his thoughts.
He closed his mouth and looked down.
Laren picked up her basket of folded laundry and began walking to the house.
Nikola followed her with his eyes.
"Have you ever considered that it's too late?" he asked and she froze. "That maybe falling is not the issue anymore.
Laren turned her head slightly towards him, her mouth slightly ajar.
"Nikola..."
"I want you," he blurted out. "And I have a feeling you want me too."
She stayed frozen.
"We can't," she stuttered slightly.
"Is it because of your husband?" He asked.
"Yes...and no," she looked down to avert his gaze.
"Then what is it? I saw it, in your eyes, I saw it, when we were lying in the grass together, just moments ago, I see it now, it's why you're trying to hide your eyes from me," she looked up slightly. "Is it because I'm a vampire."
Laren shook her head.
"It just can't happen, whatever you want to happen, it can't. We have to be friends," she said sternly. "Just friends...despite how we may feel."
The "we" in her last sentence cut him a little and the distance between them felt achingly long all of the sudden.
"So we're..."
"Just friends," Laren nodded.
Nikola sighed and nodded.
"Okay," he sighed.
She nodded and turned away continuing her trek up to the house.
Well, at least he'd tried...and now he knew it was at least mutual.
He smirked slightly. That made him feel a little better.
He grabbed his book from the seat of his chair and whistled as he swaggered up to the castle behind her.
~~~~Elsewhere~~~~
Ralph grunted as he fixed a splint around his broken wrist, the sweat evident on his brow.
"It's different now," he muttered to the shadows.
"This man they've got he's...he's not what he appears to be he's...not human," Ralph said fearfully. "I poured the acid on him and it didn't even slow him down...and then how he..."
Ralph tried not to shudder.
"We should just give up, this isn't simple any more!" Ralph pleaded.
The inky arm of the shadow reached out and grabbed Ralph's wrist, twisting it.
The big man yelped and fell to his knees.
"All right, all right, I'll do it," he cried. "Just please, don't let me hurt her, whatever is in there, don't let me hurt her," he pleaded and the shadow placed a small vial on the table.
Ralph looked over at it fearfully.
"It's a bigger dose than the last one...are you sure?" he asked.
The shadow nodded.
"I don't..."
He jumped back at the sinister hissing noise he heard.
"Alright," he took the vial, and tucked it into his pocket.
The shadow reset his wrist careful and put a strange ointment on it. The pain in his wrist subsided and he cradled his arm.
"Will this help?" He asked.
The shadow nodded.
"Alright. When do we attack again?"