Too many – eight, all heavier than I, all willing to kill, their intent too clear. I knew I had been ambushed, but that helped naught now; if only I had not been foolish enough to come alone!
I found myself cornered by three of the thugs and well knew my inglorious end was near; already weakened, shaking on my feet, barely able to breathe from the suffocating pain, I had failed.
Hopelessly, utterly, completely. Never had I before felt such engulfing anguish and despair. It was over.
I had lost everything.
But suddenly the looming figures retreated with sudden wariness, and I realised I was no longer alone – that hand on my shoulder, that could both comfort and strengthen simultaneously, could belong to no one else.
We needed not his revolver, nor my defensive arts – his mere presence made us both invincible, and we had won before ever we struck a blow.
We had won.
--
Holmes's trembling and distressed murmurs finally subsided and he peacefully curled up under the blankets I had disentangled from him. His breathing calmed and a faint smile upturned his lips; the demon plaguing him had been unconsciously exorcised. Then I silently left, to not compromise his pride were he to waken.
Someday, perhaps, he would discover just how many nights this scenario had transpired in his haunted bedchamber.