Because you love her- by jersey girl in oxford (sue)
Chapter 11
The house was tastefully decorated but not over the top. They entered through a family room that had a large field stone fireplace in the corner that opened to a huge gourmet kitchen. There was a collection of ornate swords on one wall, and several paintings on the other. Morelli did a double take as his eyes shot to the center painting. Stephanie. Ranger turned to see Morelli staring at one of the paintings. It took him a few seconds to realize who the subject of the painting was. He walked up behind Morelli. "At least we know we're in the right house," he whispered.
"How old do you think this is?" Ranger pursed his lips and studied the painting.
"Looks Colonial. Probably a couple hundred years old."
"Then they have known each other for a long time," Morelli sighed.
"Come on. We don't want to lose the daylight," Ranger urged.
"What are we looking for…a coffin?" Ranger shrugged.
"Maybe. Or just a room that they can escape the sun. This place doesn't have a basement. I checked the records and building permits. Let's look upstairs."
Ranger and Morelli searched all the rooms on the second floor. Nothing. There were expensive clothes and jewelry in the master bedroom. There were several more antiques in the rooms upstairs. More evidence that Christian lived several life times. Realization dawned on Morelli that not only had Christian been in Stephanie's life for hundreds of years, but it had to be devastating to watch her die over and over again. Losing her once was bad enough. "Don't feel sorry for him, Morelli." Ranger's voice breaking the eerie silence caused him to flinch. Christ….did this guy have ESP?
"Maybe they're not here? What do you want to do?" Ranger rubbed his hands over his face.
"Keep looking. We still need to find their hiding spot. If they're not here, we'll need to come back to finish the job," Ranger told him. Morelli nodded. Half of him was hoping they wouldn't find anything while the other half just wanted to get this over with now. They went through the entire house again. Still nothing. They would soon be losing the daylight.
"Maybe they don't stay here all the time?" Morelli wondered out loud. Ranger shook his head.
"No. We're just missing something. Maybe a false wall or door." He began to tap the wooden stake along the walls in the huge family room. Morelli started on the other side, pausing only to steal a glance out the window. The sun hung low in the sky.
"We'd better hurry," Morelli said pointing to the window. "We're running out of time." They both picked up the pace. Ranger paused at the fire place. If he hadn't been looking so closely, he would have missed it. There was a thin line in the grout around the field stone to the right of the fireplace.
"Here it is," he called to Morelli. "There is a door here. We need to find how to open it." Morelli rushed over and the two of them began to search for a way to open the door. Morelli ran his hand under and over the mantel. Ranger pressed against the various stones until one sunk into the wall. There was an audible click as small section of the wall swung outward. Ranger pulled the door open the rest of the way. There was a narrow wooden staircase.
"I thought you said they didn't have a basement?" Morelli accused. Ranger remained unphased.
"It wasn't in the plans, and there weren't any permits for one. He could have had this work done privately," Ranger told him flatly as he proceeded to descend the stairs. He paused for a moment to turn on his flashlight and shine the beam ahead to illuminate the way. Morelli followed right behind him.
The small room was dark. There were no windows. In the center of the room were two coffins. Both men froze at the sight. In the backs of both their minds, they were clinging to the possibility that this situation wasn't real. Any doubts they did have completely vanished. Ranger unzipped his duffle and removed a wooden stake. He motioned to Morelli to do the same. They slowly crept over to the closet casket. Ranger silently mimicked lifting the lid to Morelli and positioned himself at the head of the casket with stake raised to strike. With both men holding their breath, Morelli nodded and slowly raised the lid. Empty.
Morelli heard his own heat pounding in his chest. He was sure Ranger could hear it too. He blew out a sigh of relief. "Maybe they're not here after all?" His anxiety level was slowly building. Ranger seemed to always keep it together. It was hard to get a read on him. Ranger pointed to the other coffin.
"We need to check that one, too." Morelli took another deep breath and blew it out.
"Okay." They took the same positions again. Morelli counted to three in his head and raised the lid. His breath caught in his throat. Ranger, who was poised to strike, lowered the stake and stared inside. Stephanie. Her wild curls framed her beautiful face and fanned out on the silken pillow. "Jesus," Morelli whispered.
Ranger swallowed hard. You have to do this, he told himself over and over. The pain and guilt he felt over her death came rushing back. Hold it together, Manoso, he scolded himself. He looked over to Morelli. He wasn't doing any better than he was. Her beautiful face looked so peaceful. She was pale but not like she had been before….before her death? She wasn't really dead…was she? She was undead. This wasn't Stephanie, their Stephanie, anymore. You have to put her to rest, he instructed himself again. "We have to do this, Joe." Morelli nodded. "Because you love her." Morelli turned to look at Ranger.
"You love her, too." Ranger nodded. He took Morelli's hand and placed it on the stake.
"We'll do this together….for her." Morelli tightened his grip and they plunged the stake into Stephanie's heart. Her eyes flung open as she screamed. Morelli panicked and tried to pull the stake back.
"No! We're hurting her!" Ranger grabbed him by the wrist. He couldn't help it as the tears began to fall. He was losing her all over again.
"We're saving her," Ranger told him softly. Stephanie's screams died to a couple of strangled gasps. She looked back and forth to both of the men she loved.
"I'm sorry," she whispered before becoming still. Morelli fell apart. Under normal circumstances, he would never have wanted to break down in front of Ranger. Now, he just didn't care. He crumpled to the floor next to the casket. He was trying to prevent his sobs and get himself back under control. He felt Ranger's hand placed gently on his shoulder as Ranger knelt in front of him. After a few seconds, he looked into Ranger's face. There was a single tear that ran down his cheek.
"It's what she would have wanted. We did the right thing." Morelli wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and nodded. Neither man saw that Christian entered the room.
"Je suis tres desole, Sabine. Je t'aimerai toujous," Christian whispered to her and kissed her forehead. Morelli and Ranger jumped up. Christian pulled the lid back down on the casket. "Sabine was my wife…a long time ago." Ranger snatched the other stake off the ground. "She didn't know what I had become at first. I watched her grow old and die. I didn't know that we would meet again. I would find her every time she came back. Her soul would remember mine. We would be together again. But because she was mortal, I would slowly watch her deteriorate over time and lose her again. I didn't want her to exist like I did. Over the years, it became harder to find her. You see, there were two other souls that had connected with her." Morelli and Ranger exchanged confused glances.
"Us?" Ranger asked him. Christian nodded.
"Did you ever wonder why she wouldn't commit to either of you?" Christian looked at them with raised eyebrows. "Her soul was already taken. We've had several lifetimes together. She will always be mine. I could no longer live without her. When I found her this time, I decided to turn her. It was selfish of me…I know."
"You turned her into some….thing….because you love her?" Morelli asked incredulous. Christian nodded.
"I don't expect to you understand. You're not in my situation."
"You don't seem all that upset that she's dead," Ranger told him. Christian smirked.
"The pain doesn't get any easier. I've been through this many times before. I'm able to control my reaction to it. And I have the solace of knowing that I will see her again. And she will remember me, and we will be together again."
"Not if I can help it," Ranger growled. He stepped forward and plunged the stake through Christian's heart.
For the majority of the ride home, the two men didn't speak. Stephanie's body was wrapped in a quilt in the back. They hadn't decided how they would explain it yet, but they wanted to make sure her body was returned to her grave. It wasn't until when they hit Trenton's city limits that Ranger spoke.
"We'll tell them we got an anonymous tip where her body was. No need to turn this into a clusterfuck. Let her and her family have some peace. I don't want the press making a media circus out of this again." Morelli agreed.
"Do you believe him? That they'll be together again?" Ranger shrugged.
"I believe anything is possible now," Ranger replied. "Besides….if he's right, that means we'll meet Stephanie again, too." Morelli thought about what Ranger just said. He smiled for the first time since Stephanie died.
"I hope so."
Author's Note: Je suis tres desole, Sabine. Je t'aimerai toujous (I am very sorry, Sabine. I will forever love you)