Chapter 70

He heard the soft shuffle of boots in the dirt, the heavy breathing of the ghoul a demon had created. Dangerous creatures, ghouls lived to serve their masters, feasting on tainted blood and the flesh of humans. 

They were vicious and without mercy. He waited, his power building and building, gathering until it flowed through him and poured out into the air around him. The ghoul approached from behind, shuffling closer, an evil being, clumsy but very cunning and impossibly strong. A human being would be in grave danger should he meet with a minion of the demon. 

Alexander was one of the ancients, powerful and far too experienced to give the ghoul much thought. As the grotesque creature closed the distance between them, Alexander whirled around, caught the misshapen head between his hands and jerked hard enough to break the neck. The crack was loud in the silence of the night. 

The monster wailed loudly, flailing its arms, but Alexander had melted away, his speed far too great for the macabre puppet. The ghoul was shrieking in a brutal animal rage of pain and anger. It moved with jerky steps, swinging its body this way and that, searching for Alexander, searching as it had been programmed. Its head flopped at a sickly angle, and the creature drooled continuously. 

Alexander materialized in front of it, plunged his hand deep within the chest cavity, and removed the already dead heart. At once lightning slammed to the ground, incinerating the body to a fine ash. Alexander flung the putrefied organ into the blue-white streak and turned away, shaking his head at the horror of the long-dead creature. He felt their presence long before he saw them. Three demons were moving silently toward him, gliding through the air so that their feet didn’t touch the surface of the earth. He inhaled the stench of their foul, poisonous bodies. He turned slowly to face them. 

They were older than he would have liked and powerful.

 “Come to me, then,” he said softly. “I will give you the dark death that will free you from your chosen path.” Bert sat up when Miah called his name softly. Raking a hand through his hair, he regarded her with speculative eyes.

 “Miah. I didn’t expect to see you tonight.” He got to his feet and smoothed his rumpled clothes. Miah noticed his clothes were stained. Always before, he was immaculate and meticulous in his appearance. This shocked her. There was even a faint shadow of a beard, something Bert had abhorred in the past. He was almost compulsive about his appearance. He often said it was because he attended so many meetings and press conferences. He needed to know he looked good at all times. Guilt swept through her. Had she caused this? Was she going to be the instrument of his destruction?

 “I wanted to see you, Bert. We’ve been friends a long time.” Miah sighed softly. Out of respect for their friendship, she had never “read” his mind unless it involved a patient or a crisis he needed help with. It had been important to her to be as human with Bert as possible. Now it was a temptation to look into his mind. Was he going to be all right? Had she really broken his heart? Maybe she should plant a subtle compulsion in his mind to get over her. “I wasn’t sure we were friends anymore,” he responded.

“Come on, let’s get out of here and go somewhere quiet where we can talk this out.” Miah glanced around the room. “It’s pretty quiet right here, Bert.” For some strange reason, Miah was reluctant to leave the hospital with him. Alexander was out in the city hunting the demon. She needed to arrange a guard for Shaina’s room, and until she was certain the child would be safe, she wanted to stay close. 

“You know if we stay in the hospital we’ll be interrupted. I really want us to remain friends. Come on, Miah. It’s not like I’m asking all that much.” She nodded reluctantly. Bert .immediately opened the door and waved her down the hall. He followed close behind her, occasionally resting his hand on the small of her back. 

His palm felt hot and sweaty right through her clothes. Miah found herself squirming to get away from him, walking faster through the corridor and out into the night. 

Clouds were swirling ominously overhead. “The weather is looking a bit grim, Bert. Where should we go?” “You never were afraid of a little rain in the old days, Miah, before you had to look perfect for your hero.”

 Miah stopped right there at the edge of the parking lot. “If you’re going to be snide, Bert, there’s no point in this. I don’t want to fight with you any more. I really don’t. I’ve always valued your friendship and I prefer not to lose it, but if you can’t be civil about Alexander, or at least avoid the subject, then our conversing is a complete waste of time.” Suddenly, she didn’t want to go with him.

 A dark feeling of dread was stealing over her and she wanted to be back with Shaina, or better yet, wrapped safely in Alexander’s arms in the sanctuary of their home. Bert deliberately took her arm. 

“I’m sorry. Jealousy is an ugly thing, Miah. I’ll behave. Just come with me. Please.” She owed him that much and she knew it. Bert had always been her friend. It wasn’t his fault that she wasn’t human. He had no idea of her true nature. He couldn’t possibly fathom the relationship between true lifemates. Miah glanced up at his face as she went with him. 

She thought she saw something flickering in the depths of his eyes, just for a moment, something sly and cunning, but he blinked and it was gone before she was certain. All the same, Miah was uneasy. Bert cleared his throat as they walked along the bank of the river toward the seclusion of the park. “I haven’t liked myself very much lately,” he admitted.

 “I didn’t much like learning certain things about myself.” 

“Bert”—her voice was soft and sad—“I didn’t want you hurt, not for the world. I’m the one who’s sorry. I didn’t tell you about my past with Alexander because I truly thought him lost to me. Otherwise, I would never have allowed you to think there was a chance for us. You knew I didn’t love you. I told you I didn’t.”

 “I loved you enough for both of us.” His words stabbed at her heart. “Bert, no one person can make a relationship work. It takes two people together. I wish I was the right woman for you, but I know I’m not. There’s someone out there, someone very special who will love you as you deserve to be loved.” She used her voice, giving a little push even though she didn’t like to do such things do with friends. 

She hated his pain, hated knowing she was the cause of it. Bert was silent for a moment; then he let go of her arm and clutched his head. Miah touched him. At once she could feel his pain, a sharp splintering headache growing and building at an alarming rate. She settled her fingers around his arm. 

“Let me help you, Bert. You know I can.” He broke away from her, breathing heavily.

 “No, Miah, just let me be for a moment. I’ve been getting these headaches the last few days and they’re killers. I even had a CAT scan done to see if I had a tumor.” He pulled a tube from his pocket, took off the lid, and shook several small pills into his mouth. Miah could see his hand was trembling.

 “You don’t need medication. I can take the pain away,” she said softly, feeling hurt by his rejection. He shook his head again, this time decisively. 

“Don’t waste your time and talent on me. The pills work just fine. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be okay.” A small frown touched her soft mouth. “Bert, I know you’re angry with me, but these headaches sound serious. You know I can help. How often are you taking these pills? What are they?” He shrugged and cut through the park along a dark pathway, holding aside the low-lying branches to prevent them from hitting Miah. “It doesn’t matter. Why were you looking for me?” “Where in the world are we going, Bert? This path leads out of the park toward the cemetery. Let’s go back.”

 He swung around to face her and once again she thought there was something crafty in his eyes. Then he blinked and it was Bert looking down at her with sad eyes. But Miah was very uneasy now. Nothing felt right to her, not Bert, not the path they were taking, not even the night itself. She bit down on her lower lip while she tried to think what he could be planning. Bert was not a violent man, she knew that much about him. He was gentle and caring, even if he was ambitious

. “We aren’t going back, Miah, not until we talk this out. If nothing else, I want to stay friends. I’m hurt, I won’t deny that, and I’ve acted like a spoiled child, but I always thought you would come around and marry me. I really did. In my mind we were already engaged.” He shook his head as he picked his way along the uneven surface of the road. 

“You never looked at other men, never. I thought that meant you truly felt something for me, but you had been hurt and were afraid to love again.” 

Miah could see the first of the many headstones standing like silent sentinels of the dead in the graveyard. It was a beautiful place really, ancient, a place where it was believed the sacred and the damned had to be kept apart. One side of the burial grounds was sanctified, blessed with holy water, while the other was for those who had lived lives of sin and debauchery, criminals and murderers. It was now being torn up, the dead removed to the new cemetery away from the middle of the city. The machines hadn’t yet reached the area where they walked. The imminent destruction made her sad; she had many human friends buried there. 

“I never was interested in anyone else, Bert. I preferred your company, but it was friendship I felt, the love of a sister. I often wanted to feel more, and when I thought about the future, I wished I could love you as you wanted me to, but I never loved any man other than Alexander. I thought him dead to me, all these years, but I was not over him.” “Why didn’t you ever mention him?” Bert demanded, sounding petulant again.

 “Not once did you even say his name. If we were such good friends, why didn’t you share with me such a terrible tragedy as losing your husband?” He spat the last word out distastefully.

 “I didn’t know you’d ever been married to anyone.” He was moving faster, now, taking the lead, pushing his way over the small rock wall to hurry along a little-used path leading to the mausoleum.

 “I never spoke of him to anyone, Bert. It was too difficult.” That was the truth. Even her mother had never known about that small incident in the village so many centuries earlier.