He had unwillingly watched her go, her black hide quickly lost in the spotty
light of the woods. There was a strange division in him at the moment. Part
of him wanted to run after her to protect her. Certainly the man was armed.
Benny and Trigger had already found other weapons on the two bodies left
behind. The other half of him was scared. She was feral, and there was no
telling what she would do if he went after her. It was quite possible that
she would attack him in the state she was in.
Edward had already sent Trigger back to the manor's garden shed to get shovels,
warning him not to be seen. The men would be unceremoniously buried where
they were. Benny went through the pockets of the men, looking to find out
anything about who they were. He came up with only a few scraps of paper,
and some money. When Trigger returned, Eddie waved them off to dig graves
for the men. He was not relishing the task of cleaning up after his girlfriend.
Then the screams started. They were so unearthly, the men were uncertain
if they were male or female, or even human.
"Finish up here, and then follow," Edward said, rushing off in the direction
the screams came from. His gun bumped heavily against his side as he rushed
through the dense undergrowth. Tangram hurried along side, though Eddie
was almost oblivious to the cub's presence. Please don't let that be
her screaming!
Suddenly, the screams stopped. A grunting noise led him to the spot, however,
and he immediately turned to empty his stomach at the sight. In half human
form, Dee sat on the mutilated corpse of Lighthair, placidly digging a hole
through his chest. She had laid out his internal organs along side, and
was currently removing the man's left lung. The only way this man would
ever be identified was through his dental records. He wiped his mouth as
he stood, panting, and looked back at Dee. She now sat staring at him with
huge cat eyes.
"Dee?" he said timidly, taking a step toward her.
A happy guttural sound came from her, as she gave him a tired, but pleased
feline smile. Before he could say another word, she passed out, falling
forward on the corpse and melting back into human form. He rushed to her
side, ignoring the fact that his suit was getting covered in gore. Dee's
body was slick with blood, and her skin chilled to the touch. It was obvious
that her sustained transformation had taken its toll on her.
Wrapping her in his coat, he lifted her into his arms. He met Benny and
Trigger as he headed back the way he had come. Giving them instructions
to dispose of the body, and warning them of the devastation in the clearing.
The amount of blood covering Dee and Eddie both, had the guys asking if
she was ok.
"She's fine, I think. I won't know until I get her back to the manor." He
shook his head and looked down at Dee as she snuggled against him, holding
his tie in her hands. "Just take care of it, please." Turning, he started
to walk back, before stopping. "And thank you both. I appreciate your help
in this. Bring me what you've found on the bodies when you get back."
"Yes, Mr. Nigma," Trigger said.
"Sure thing, boss," Benny added.
As he walked back to the manor, Eddie juggled the little question mark shaped
comm-unit out of his pocket and contacted the Monroe's man, Ian. He instructed
Ian to clear the halls of any and all servants, and have plastic trash bags
waiting in the room when he returned, along with plenty of clean towels.
Ian assured him that everything would be ready when he arrived.
~ ~ ~
Dee remained only partially conscious as Edward stripped her bloody clothing
off of her and stuffed it into the provided bags. As requested, not a single
servant was seen when he had arrived. The last thing he needed was to be
asked what had happened. Even he wasn't too certain on that, and was quite
unwilling to speak about the events in the woods.
He scrubbed as much of the blood off of her as he could, draining the tub
more than once. She came fully around for that, but was unable to speak.
When she tried to kiss his hand, he pulled away, thinking she was going
to bite him. Dejectedly, she slumped against the side of the tub, hanging
her head over the side, a few tears sliding down her face.
By the time he pulled her out of the tub and dried her off, he was forcing
her to stay awake. He had made it back to the bed with her, sitting her
down so he could get her something warm to wear. When he turned around with
some pajamas for her, she had already crawled under the blankets. There
she huddled in a ball, shivering in her sleep. On one of the chairs was
an extra blanket, which he placed over her before he left the room with
the bag of bloodied clothing to have it burned.
Left to sleep, Dee dreamed feline dreams of chasing prey and playing with
fellow felines. As a human, she knew what she had done, though everything
seemed only a distant memory, like a movie she had watched. That's how it
had always been, from her first kill to her latest. The ring demanded blood
on occasion, and when it got the opportunity, it took the blood it wanted.
None of it ever felt unnatural. It all felt like part of what she had to
do as a predator.
~ ~ ~
"What happened to the men, Edward," Tom asked after dinner.
Eddie shook his head. "Just know that those men won't be bothering you ever
again, Tom." They won't bother anyone ever again. "It's all been
taken care of. I apologize for bringing this trouble to your home."
"Better that it was us than someone else. How is Dee doing?"
"She seems fine. She's just exhausted. I woke her up to eat, which she did.
Though I'm not sure she really was awake. I think the smell of food just
made her eat automatically." There was genuine worry in his voice. There
had been no expression on Dee's face as she ate the lamb stew and bread before
collapsing back into the bed to sleep. While she ate, he had managed to slip
one of his dress shirts on her, giving her a little more warmth.
"How did she get so tired?"
Wagging a finger at Tom, Eddie said, "That you don't need to know. But I
don't consider her the best bodyguard I've ever had for no reason at all.
She more than earns her keep. Did that package get off alright?"
"Ian took it into town immediately after you gave it to him. Stromel won't
care that you got rid of his men, you know. He'll come after her again,
Edward. You know how the man is. How could you have taken her to his castle?"
"Stupidity and stubbornness. I tried to get her to stay on the plane. She
refused. Stubborn as can be, that woman! Next time I tell her to do something,
she better damn well listen to me!"
Tom chuckled. "It's nice to see you with someone you care about. Just remember
what I said. Stromel gets it in his mind that he wants something, and he
will take it." He refilled their scotch glasses.
Grunting, Eddie downed his freshly refilled scotch. "He won't get his way
this time. If he wanted Gilliana, you wouldn't give her up." He stood up
from his seat at the fireplace in Tom's study. "Thank you for the drinks.
I think I'll go to bed now. It's been a long day."
"You'll stay an extra day to rest, won't you?"
"Let's see what the morning brings, Tom," Edward said, patting the man on
the shoulder as he left the room.
By now he had gotten over his initial fear of Dee after seeing what she
had done. It was her ring that made her do that. To accept her, was to accept
who and what she was, and that included the ring. However, when he slipped
into bed next to her, he removed her ring. At his touch, she curled herself
against his chest, tucking herself under his arm. She still felt as cold
as ice, but had stopped shivering. Kissing the top of her head, he sighed
and went to sleep himself.
~ ~ ~
In his study, Graf Radulf Stromel opened the packet sent to him by Edward
Nigma. Inside was enough information to let him know that those clowns that
he hired to bring the girl back had failed. The blood stained items told
him that the men had paid for their failure with their lives. This was disagreeable
with him, for he would have preferred to end their pathetic lives his own
way. He didn't really care that the men had lost their lives. It was the
failure that bothered him. No one failed him.
Growling, he threw the items, along with the letter from Herr Nigma into
the fireplace. The little man had decided that Graf Stromel was no longer
good enough to procure items for. Fine! There were a thousand other common
criminals that could get him what he wanted. That did not put aside the
fact that the idiot American was hiding something about that girl. Why would
he fight so hard to protect her? Why did he care? She was a woman with a
secret, something he felt no woman should ever have. All of his compliments
had been tossed aside, as if what he had said didn't matter. He said what
he did to women because they were stupid and gullible. And this Dee Lemma
was just a woman.
Speaking of which...
"Get out of here, all of you!" he snarled at the collared women who waited
silently at the edge of the firelight. One in particular caught his eye
as she backed out of the room, bowing to him. "You, stay!" The order was
given as if to a dog.
Silently the woman returned to the edge of the light, kneeling, eyes cast
to the expensive Oriental rug in front of her. Though she looked at it,
she did not see it. She saw only her master's slippers as he stood in front
of her. When the door closed, he held his hand down to her. Obediently,
she placed the short leash into his waiting hand.
"Stand up."
She stood. The woman was shorter than him by at least a head. Just like
the American girl. He slapped her across the face, the force causing her
to reel back. A yank of the short leash brought her back to her original
spot. She made no sound, and still kept her eyes on his slippers.
"Pleasure me in a new way," he said.
This is what women were for. Breeding, sex, and as slaves for men. Any other
use was hardly thinkable! He was a reasonable man, demanding little of the
women in his service. They were to be seen and heard only when he wanted.
Chattel, that's what they were. This one was freshly broken in, and proving
to have some inventiveness. Where had he gotten her again? No matter.
He grabbed her by the hair after a moment, throwing her against the desk.
The flimsy robes he made the women wear was easily discarded. Twisting his
hand into her long red hair, he brutally sodomized and raped her until she
passed out and was as limp as a ragdoll. Just as one might do to a ragdoll,
he tossed her to the carpets, closing his own robes and calling for his
servants to remove the woman and clean up the blood.
When he got his hands on that girl of Nigma's, she would beg him for treatment
like that. That little tiger cub of hers would look nice as a rug. He chuckled.
Not a rug. Her clothing. She would wear the skin of her precious little
tiger cub, the leash around her neck the cub's tail. With the way she talked
to him, he knew he would have fun breaking her.
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