The sun was shining through the blinds when Victor opened his eyes. The first person he saw was Selena . She was sitting on a chair beside the bed, her elbow propped up on it, catnapping. On her lap was a towel. She was wearing a white dress and her hair was piled up on head into a hastily made ponytail. Even in sleep, she had a drawn, sullen expression on her face that told him the rigor she must have been through.
“Violet, is that really you? I thought you were an angel?” He said stupidly as he touched her.
Selena was awakened by her hand on her arm. She opened her eyes and saw Victor looking at her, a kind of bewildered excitement on his face. She jumped up involuntarily.
“Victor!,” and she flung herself at him, then laughing in his arms, moaning, clinging and hysterical. She hugged Victor so hard until he thought she would break his bones. When she heard him wince, she quickly pulled away.
“Oh, sorry! I’m sorry, I forgot all about your back!”she babbled and she started to examine his body, to see if she had hurt him in any way but he caught her hands and pulled her close to him.
“Is this real? Are you real?” He was looking at her foolishly. He lifted his hand to touch her face, “Is this really you, Violet?”
“Yes it’s me Victor! It’s me,” she said, looking closely into his eyes, giggling excitedly, “It’s me, my love,”
Again Victor thought he was dreaming this, and he peered at her, his eyes wondering, searching.
“I still can't believe this,” he shook his head. “But how? How Selena? How did I get here?”
Holding his hand, she went on to tell him how everything he needed to know and when she was done; he was looking at her incredulous expression on his face.
“That place was hellish, Violet? I…..I thought I was gonna die! I thought I won’t ever see you again,” his voice was filled with anguish and despair. He closed his eyes as the wave of emotion over him. When he opened his eyes. Selena was staring at him, her eyes filled with tears. “If not for you, Violet. You saved me.”
“No, no, don't say that. Your pack saved you,” Selena said, shaking her head. “I couldn’t do anything for you, my love. I felt so useless. All I could do while they went for you was to sit here and pray.”
“But you gave them the direction to get me, Violent” he protested reasonably, “if not for what you told them, they won’t be able to find me. It was you, Selena . You made it easier for them to rescue me,”
“If you say so, Victor,” Selena said, still not swayed by his words. “So how are you feeling now, are you feeling okay? Better?” Her eyes were studying him, devouring him.
He was immediately aware that he was feeling stronger. Suspicious, he touched his wounded back. He felt no pain at all. His fingers moved over his face, the back of his neck, he stretched his big arms, and lifted his legs. There was no discomfort whatsoever. He knew his werewolf strength could have aided in the healing but with all he had gone through, it wouldn’t be this fast. This was unbelievable. He felt perfectly normal.
“I feel so much stronger! I can’t believe this,” he declared.
“Of course, the elixir worked!” Selena said, smiling broadly. She picked up a glass tube which stood on the bedside table. “I gave you this all through the night. Morrigan said it will work very fast on you. But I never knew it could be this amazing,”
Victor looked at the drink. He recognized the dark-greenish liquid in the glass. No wonder he felt so much better.
“I know what it is. It’s a drink for wounded werewolves,” as the word slipped out of his mouth he stiffened. A look of apprehension appeared on his face. “Fuck me,” he said breathlessly.
Selena regarded him, puzzled. Then understanding crept up her face. She took his hands and smiled lovingly at him.
“You don’t have to feel bad about it. I’m not angry with you.” She said softly.
“I’m so sorry, Violet………I’m so…..fuck it!” He cursed under his breath. He felt like a low love at that moment.
All this time, that they had been talking, the excitement of seeing each other once again, their chit chats on how she had told him about his pack members rescuing him, it had completely blurted out from his mind that he had never had a real conversation about his werewolf side with her. He had hidden the whole thing from her. In fact, remembering everything now, Selena had discovered on her own about his nature by Caesar ’s design of course. But the fact still remains that she had known about who truly he was on her own. And that's never a good thing. He pushed the thoughts away from his mind and held her hands tighter in his.
“I’m sorry for deceiving you all this time, Violet.” He said softly, “I didn’t know how to tell you about it. The first time we talked I discovered your fear about werewolves and ever since then I knew I was too much of a coward to tell you about my true nature.” He licked his lips. “Maybe I was scared of losing you. Maybe it was because I was a coward, but all I know is that I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you.” He heaved heavily, “Violet, I know I don’t deserve to say this but I’ll be glad If you will give me another chance. I made you unhappy. I’d like to make it up to you. Because I love you, Violet. I couldn’t say it before now but now I can. I love you, Violet. I love you so much and I’ll like to spend my whole life with you,”
“Oh, Victor,” she pressed her lips tight, willing herself not to cry, and shook her head in a gesture of happiness, her eyes bright with unshed tears,”Oh Victor . Of Course I would like to spend the rest of my life with you too”
And he pulled her to him. And she was in his arms. He was kissing her, his lips gentle and tender, and hers was hungry and demanding and wild with all the pent- up longings she had endured during these hard times they’ve both been through. She thought of the baby growing safely inside of her and she shuddered with happiness. When they both pulled away for breath, she was grinning ruefully at him. She held his face in her hands.
“I love you, Violet,” Victor said.
“I love you, Victor.” She replied, smiling at him. She paused for a moment and went on. “There’s something I have to tell you., it’s a little surprise”
********************
Caesar was jittery and nearly crazy. For the past six hours, he had been trying to reach Dvorak but the man was not picking his calls. By sundown, Caesar was in a vile, hellish temper. He sat behind his desk, a dark, brooding expression on his face, his finger’s drumming absentmindedly on the desk. What the hell could have happened? he thought. Why was Dvorak not picking? Was he too immersed with torturing that bastard wolf man and he couldn’t pick his call?
When he could no longer stand the suspense, he got to his feet and left his library. He walked to his bedroom door, opened it and walked in.
Safiya who had been sleeping, was now coming awake with a low, moaning yawn.
Caesar didn’t even give her a glance. He walked to his closet and began to dress up. The way he was slamming the closet door shut and opening it again brought Safiya instantly awake. She peered at him with heavy, bleary eyes.
“What’s all the noise for God’s sake? Where are you going?”
“Shut up!” Caesar snarled. He shoved a glock behind his waistband and sheathed a knife into his cargo pant pockets. He closed the closet door finally and moved to the whiskey cabinet. Safiya continued to watch him.
“Something is bothering you, Caesar. You look worried,”
“Yeah?” Caesar seethed out as he tossed down a drink of whiskey, “Well it’s not too hard to figure out. This is really crazy. Dvorak’s not picking his calls. I’ve been calling like hell. I’m going over to the torture house right now,”
Safiya narrowed her eyes on him.
“You mean his line is going through but he’s not picking?”
“Yeah!” Caesar slammed the glass on the table. “Fuck it! I don’t know what to think again,” he drew in a long slow breath. “I’ll be back,” and he left the bedroom, slamming the door after him.
He ran out of the house and into the garage. Slater who was patrolling the garage came over to him as he walked in. He noticed the dark scowl on his face.
“Anything sir?”
“Yeah!” Caesar said as he hopped onto a bike. “Open the back gate. I’m going into the woods to check on Dvorak. Give me your WolfStopper,”
Slater nodded evenly. He thrust the gun to Caesar . He took it from Slater and strapped it around him. Then Slater hurriedly left the garage. Caesar fired the bike. He revved it, again and again and rolled it out.
He rode out of the garage, to the back of the house and then out of the mansion grounds. He rode hard and fast on the lone track that led to the torture house. When he got there, he pulled up and he cut off the engine. Then he walked to where the house was. He stiffened when he saw the mangled gate that led into the house. He unstrapped the Wolf Stopper and held it grimly in his hand.
Cautiously, he began his walk through the cobblestoned passage.
When he got to the front door of the torture room and saw it ripped away, a trepidation of the unknown settled on him. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what he was going to see. But he had no choice. He had to see. He took a deep breath and walked in.