Chapter 13

April felt dazed as she started down the stairs, and not just because she had been catapulted halfway across the spare bedroom. Her mind was in a whirl, dizzy from the events that had, and still were, unfolding. The man had gone from menacing her to healing her. From dying, to death, and back to life again. Could all of this really be happening, she wondered for the umpteenth time. It was insane.

Or maybe she was insane.

She groped for the bannister, desperately needing the support, accepting that the situation was as real as the solid mahogany wood beneath her fingers. She also doubted you could feel real pain in a madness induced hallucination. As she took another step she feared her legs were going to give out at any moment. She not only felt mentally drained but her body throbbed all over, protesting with every movement.

Maybe she had been too hasty declining the man's offer to heal her further. But she was still so very wary. She couldn't help it. She wanted to trust him. She wanted to believe that he wouldn't heal her only to kill her a few minutes later. But what did she know about the warped minds of psychopaths? Maybe that was how they got their kicks. Lowering their victim's guard only to strike when they least expected it.

She didn't think the man was a psychopath. Dangerous maybe, but not a danger, if that made any sense at all. She was now convinced that his earlier anger had derived from his pain. And whatever else he was hiding behind those haunted eyes. She hadn't lied when she had said his face mirrored her own. He might come from another world but she recognised the same torment, the same anguish. He was grieving for someone...just like she was. Someone...or something.

She could even relate to his rage, though maybe not with quite the same intensity. But she certainly struggled with her own anger, day after torturous day. Wrestling the mind-numbing, soul destroying, alternation of whys and what ifs.

She could feel his eyes burning into the back of her head as he followed her down the stairs. She hesitated so that he could catch up.

He smirked as he drew up alongside her. "I am not about to garrotte you from behind, if that's what you are worried about."

His perceptiveness sent a shiver running down her aching spine. "It's inevitable that I'm going to be on my guard," she snapped in frustration, her pain shortening her own fuse now. "I know nothing about you. You just appeared in my house."

He sighed in a bored manner, though his face betrayed a hint of culpability. "What would you like to know?"

"Well...your name would be a start."

"L...Linden," he returned after a slight hesitation, and she regarded him suspiciously, wondering why he delayed. Was he lying? Or was she just being paranoid?

"Linden? That's an unusual name."

"It means handsome one."

That was definitely a lie, but a small smile twitched at her mouth. Psychopath or not, he had a certain flair even if it did border upon the brash.

"Handsome one?" She refrained from rolling her eyes.

"You do not believe me?" he teased, feigning disappointment.

"Should I?" she asked him seriously.

There was a flicker of something in his eyes, frustration maybe, or even genuine disappointment, but it was gone before she could read it properly. Her mind was too preoccupied to dwell anyway. The pain was starting to become unbearable.

He frowned at her. "Look, are you sure you would not like me to heal the bruising? You are descending these stairs like an old crone."

"I'm fine."

He grinned. "Stubborn as well as fiery."

April took another step, her hand clutching at the bannister now as if her life depended upon it. She knew she was lying to herself. She wasn't fine. She was far from fine. Her inner hypochondriac stirred restlessly. What if there was more damage than she realised? Internal bleeding or something?

When she let out an involuntary groan, her legs finally buckling, she felt the man's arms sweep beneath her.

She gasped, her panic momentarially anaesthetising the pain, as he scooped her up into his arms and turned, heading back towards the spare bedroom.

"What are you doing? Put me down!"

She clutched at him, despite herself, terrified that they would both take a tumble down the stairs if she struggled too wildly. But he seemed to have no trouble manoeuvring them around and retracing their steps back up to the landing. He was either stronger than he looked or she really had lost far too much weight since David's death.

"Please. I'm fine. Really!"

Ignoring her, something he seemed to do a lot she decided irritably, he marched back into the spare bedroom and lowered her down onto the bed. April quickly pulled away from him, unnerved by his closeness.

When she started to rise, his eyes narrowed with vexation and his hand shot out towards her, fingers exuding the same green incandescent light he had used to heal her lip. The strange power rushed at her face, making her recoil back in fright. To her shock she suddenly felt so weak, so utterly boneless, that her body slumped back onto the bed, head dropping limply down into the pillow.

"Where does it hurt?" he demanded impatiently as he stared down at her, his long dishevelled hair hiding most of his pale face, making him look menacing again.

When she didn't answer, he glowered at her. "April, where does it hurt?"

Maybe it was because he used her name again, but April finally relented, admitting defeat. "Everywhere," she despaired.

"Where does it hurt the most? I need a central focus."

"My back."

When he began to carefully manhandle her around onto her stomach, she tried to panic again, but his magic had completely zapped her of energy. Her heart overcompensated, however, racing in her chest, pounding in her ears, making her feel nauseous.

When she felt him lift up her blouse, exposing her back, her mind tensed in horror since her body couldn't. Letting out a sob, she scrunched her eyes tight, realising that her worse nightmare was being realised, that he was going to take advantage of her. As his hands pressed down upon her bare skin, just below her bra strap, tears welled up beneath her closed lids.

Please no, she begged wordlessly. Please don't rape me. Oh please God don't let him rape me.

But the threatening touch of his splayed fingers was suddenly replaced by something else, something quite the opposite. An unexpected warmth that swiftly developed into a delicious heat as it flooded her body, instantly overwhelming her senses.

"Trust me," he whispered soothingly, and she whimpered, but this time with pleasure, as the sublime sensations fanned out across her back, melting blissfully into her skin, sinking right down, through muscle and tendon, deep into cartilage and bone. Breathing out a long placid sigh, April's eyes rolled back behind her closed lids as all fears of violation left her, her entire body aflame as the magic absorbed into her. For a while she lost all sense of time and place, feeling as if she were floating.

Drifting.

Drifting away from everything...

"Better?" she faintly heard him say.

"Hmmmmmm...?" she murmured languidly, her heart thudding lazily in her ears now.

She heard him chuckle though it sounded muffled, faraway, like a remnant of a dream.

"I thought you might like it."

She felt so sedate, so at peace, that it took several moments for her to even acknowledge that the pain had gone. She was almost sorry to feel his hands leave her body, even when she felt her blouse being lowered again. She sensed movement close beside her and then heard his voice.

"Aren't you glad you surrendered now?"

His breath shivered passed her ear, invading her personal space once again, but she felt too wonderful to care. Even her mind felt incredibly calm, the turmoil of the passed twelve months seeming dulled somehow, as if her painful memories had temporarily retreated, just to give her a moment of respite.

The man hadn't simply healed her, she was sure of that. He had done something else. Used some other incantation. It hadn't been sexual exactly, but not far off. Orgasmic in a non-sexual context, if that was possible. She knew she would be blushing from her head to her toes if she was more coherent.

The weight on the bed lifted and she knew that the man was staring down at her. She could feel those haunted eyes burning into her again. She wanted to look up at him but just couldn't move.

Didn't want to move.

She wanted to lay here forever, feeling the way she was feeling.

"What...?" she mumbled, but even her vocal chords felt too lazy to continue.

"What did I do?" She could sense the smug smile in his tone. "That's for me to know and you to simply...enjoy."

His words swept around her like silk, sounding almost seductive. April wasn't sure she liked it. Nor how vulnerable he had made her feel. But he hadn't...hurt her when he so easily could have. He hadn't taken advantage of her at all.

She could trust him.

The knowledge filled her with relief as the last of his magic ebbed away and she drifted into a heavenly sleep.

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