Black Heart (7 page)

“
I can feel your annoyance,
Deegan. We would have contacted you sooner, but Raynor said you
were not to be disturbed until this afternoon,” Edward
interjected.

Deegan strode past him into the foyer.
Edward followed, closing the door behind him.

“
An antidote, Edward?
Truly?”

“
We have done nothing. We
awaited your arrival. Raynor and Tristan insisted on it.” Edward
ran his hand through his wavy blond hair. “I am not sure it will be
effective. Raynor has his hopes up, perhaps too high. We have tried
so many times before and failed. I fear this attempt will also not
succeed.”

Edward led Deegan into
Raynor’
s
large study. He immediately walked over to his son Tristan. He’d
shaved off the goatee and had his long hair cut. It barely touched
his shoulders now. The men grasped forearms tightly in affection.
He had not seen Tristan for a few weeks; he did not realized how
much he missed him until now. He tamped down his overly sentimental
thoughts, as he often did.

“
Katrina is well?”

Tristan smiled, his sharply handsome
features softening at the mention of his mate.

“
Very much so. Her belongings
arrive in a few days. We are engaged.”

Deegan did not hold back this time and
gave his only son a brief, but affectionate hug. Stepping back, he
looked at Tristan. He looked happy, relaxed and content. A man in
love.

“
I am pleased for you both. We
will talk more at a later time. Come, let’s attend Raynor. I am
sure he is near to crawling out of his skin.”

The men climbed the narrow stairs to the
attic room where Raynor waited with the comatose, bedridden Laura.
Deegan felt a good deal of trepidation about this whole thing,
though he was not sure why. They walked into the room. Raynor sat
on the edge of the bed stroking Laura’s pallid face in loving
fondness. Deegan had not seen Raynor look so expectant, so joyous.
For his sake, Deegan hoped it would all work out.

Edward moved toward the bed, unhooking the
IV from Laura, and prepared her arm for the injection. Raynor
backed away and stood near Deegan. The room was eerily silent,
except for the air conditioning unit humming softly
overhead.

“
We will try fifty
cc’
s first,
see if there is any reaction, then if not, I will try fifty more,”
Edward’s deep voice intoned.

After a few moments, Laura moaned. The men
were frozen in place; they could not believe it, after all this
time and after decades of suspended Twilight slumber. Laura lifted
her head as if trying to get a focus on her surroundings. No one
spoke or dared move.

Slowly
, with great effort, Laura sat
upright and looked at Raynor. For a few brief moments, her eyes
seemed to soften. She recognized him, and love radiated from her
gaze. But as quickly as that look emerged it disappeared. What
replaced that affectionate look was dark—dead. Lifeless. Madness.
Laura growled and hissed like a wild animal, and drool fell from
her bared fangs.

She literally began to foam at
the mouth. She leapt from the bed and in a flash jumped Raynor, her
fangs tearing at his neck in a frenzied assault. Raynor
stood stationary in
shock and didn’t fight off the attack. Blood ran down his
neck.

“
Damn!” Edward yelled. “Deegan,
quick! Get the other needle, the sedative!”
Deegan grabbed the needle off the nearby night table and stabbed it
in Laura’s thigh with a great deal of force.

She hit the hardwood floor
unconscious. Blood covered Laura’s face, and some skin from
Raynor’s neck hung off her fangs like the shark in
Jaws
after chewing on
Quint. Deegan’s stomach turned. Damn, if there had been any food in
his stomach he would have brought it up. He glanced at Raynor. He
looked dazed, his hand to his throat disbelieving, blood oozing out
between his fingers. Tristan rushed to Raynor’s side, putting his
hand over Raynor’s to try to stem the blood loss. Edward helped
Tristan lead a confused and heartbroken Raynor to a nearby
chair.

Deegan kicked at
Laura’
s
extended arm, no response.

“
She should be out for a while.
There was enough trank in there to bring down an elephant,” Edward
called out. “Deegan, bring me my bag.”

In a matter of minutes, Edward
stopped the flow of blood and stitched th
e flap of skin closed on Raynor’s
neck. Already it began to heal.

Deegan stood nearby, arms
crossed.
“What in the hell, Edward?”

“
It is The Concealment at its
worst manifestation. She is gone from us—forever.”

A wretched animal howl tore from Raynor’s
bandaged and stitched throat, a yowl of utter anguish and torment.
Deegan laid his hand on his old friend’s shoulder. He had no words
to comfort, no words of encouragement. He knew what had to be
done.

“
Raynor, come. We must speak
alone.”

Raynor followed him into the alcove
across from the attic room while Edward and Tristan remained with
the unconscious Laura.

“
You know what I must do,
Raynor,” Deegan whispered. “I must contact the Bureau, and Laura
must be destroyed as soon as possible. She is gone from us, and
there is no coming back, you know this. She is quite mad, beyond
all hope. I will leave the manner in which she is destroyed up to
you. We should contact the rest of your family.”

Raynor shook his head emphatically. “No.
They have enough to deal with. If it must be done, I want it done
quickly and quietly and, Deegan, I have one request.” Raynor closed
his eyes. “I wish to be destroyed along with Laura. I am so fucking
weary of it all. Life without her is empty, wretched. These last
decades have been torturous. And now to know that I am responsible
for her condition, that I cannot bear. I will not bear it. I want
it over, and I want to be with her for eternity, if not in this
life then the next. You must grant me this request.”

Deegan was aghast. “No! I will not
sanction that. What of Julian and Raylene? They have to be
told!”

“
Julian is in Toronto. I will
not wait for his return and Raylene—she is yours. Deegan, look
after her, love her. She will need your strength. I will write them
both letters while you prepare for the Termination Ceremony. I will
not expose my children to their parents’ end. The horror of what I
have done to their mother. They cannot be witness to what she has
become at my hand.”

Deegan could not stop the wave of
misery that covered him. His oldest friend, his blood brother.
Hundreds of years they had been together, through the best of times
and the worst of times. He turned Raynor without his permission,
yet his friend forgave him. He could not stem the tears that
gathered in the corner of his eyes. Emotion, which he usually
fought and tamped down, threatened to overwhelm him. Loss,
desolation.

Raynor took a deep breath. “Look after my
family, Deegan, like they are your own. I beseech you to try to
make them understand. I have always loved you like the brother dear
to my heart.”

The men embraced. “Your family is my
family,” Deegan whispered. “I shall guard and protect them with my
life, you have my word. You have my love, you always
did.”

Raynor gripped Deegan’s arms. “We will use
fire, the incinerator room in the basement, and hear me, the ashes
are to be scattered. Not kept,” he hissed in Deegan’s
ear.

Deegan flinched.
Damn.
“I will go call the
Bureau.”

He stepped away from Raynor and headed
downstairs. What in hell was he going to say to the Bureau? A
turning gone wrong? They would want details. He couldn’t mention
the Concealment. He would leave it up in the air. Tell them Raynor
was so heartbroken he elected to be terminated with his love. That,
at least, was the truth. He was a smooth liar, always had been. He
went to the study and picked up the phone. Raylene—she would blame
him for not telling her about any of this. He knew her deep
attachment to her father. This would devastate her. Before they
even started their lives together, this tragedy would taint
everything.

Chapter Five

It all fell into place rather
quickly. The Bureau sanctioned the Termination Ceremony and
ac
cepted
Deegan’s smooth mendacity of the situation. Deegan’s status in the
hierarchy of the Vampire world was not to be questioned and brooked
no refusal. He was lucky there.

Tristan grabbed his
arm and pulled him
aside. “You are not going to allow this!”

“
It is
Raynor’
s
decision. I will not go against his express wishes.” His voice
sounded dull, emotionless, but inside he was a fucking
mess.

“
This certainly puts an end to
your Concealment problems, doesn’t it?” Tristan sneered.

He shook off his son’s tight grip. “Does
it? You forget Raylene and Julian. It may manifest itself in them
yet.”

“
Yet you mated with Raylene,
bonded to her. Why?”

He asked himself that question. A moment
of weakness. He couldn’t fight it anymore. He loved her. All of the
above or none of the above. He had no answer.

Tristan snorted derisively at his silence.
“God, Dad. Is it so hard for you to admit that you feel something?
I guess Raylene will just join the other corpses in the family
burial ground. What’s another mate to you?”

Deegan’
s wretched agony flamed into red-hot
anger. He grabbed his son’s shirt, twisting the fistful of cotton
tightly. He brought Tristan closer, inches from his
face.

“
You know nothing. You are not
the only one to have loved and lost; do not presume to know what is
in my heart.”

“
What choice do I have but to
presume? You never speak of it or of anything. Your life, your
loves, your friendships, nothing. Cloaked in secrecy. Wrapped in
cold indifference, that’s you, Dad.”

Tristan’s
words stung. Icy needles
plunged deep into his heart. He let go of Tristan’s shirt and
stepped back.

“
If I do not speak of such
things, it is to protect you.”

Tristan shook his head. “No, Dad, you are
protecting yourself. There is something in your past that forged
you into this cool, apathetic man. Maybe someday you will love me
enough to tell me. Or your mate.”

The words choked in his throat. He loved
his son fiercely, but he had not told him that in decades. Maybe
never. Tristan spoke the truth; there was plenty in his past that
he had not verbalized to anyone, except Raynor. His friend and
brother, who stood alongside him through those dark times. How
could he go on without Raynor’s steadfast friendship and love? He
could not talk of this, not today.

“
Let us join Raynor and be done
with this.”

Both men followed with Edward as Raynor
carried the still unconscious Laura to the basement. The decision
was made to keep her under the effects of the sedative. Raynor
lowered her until her feet touched the floor, his strong arm
keeping her upright in his tight embrace. Her head rested on
Raynor’s broad chest. Raynor stoked her cheek lovingly. He glanced
at the somber looking men standing nearby.

“
I ask you, Edward and Tristan,
what I asked of Deegan. Look after my family. Make them understand.
I left the letters for Raylene and Julian on my desk in my study
along with instructions on how my estate is to be divided up. Do
not despair. I am at peace with my decision.”

The men murmured their agreement. Raynor
glanced down at Laura, his fingers still tenderly stroking her
cheek.

“
I love you, my heart, always
and forever. We will be together again, as we were when our love
burned the brightest.”

The basement was desolate and silent. In
the corner, the iron door beckoned. The roar of flame could be
heard through the tightly closed entrance. Raynor looked up at
Deegan. Their gazes locked, unspoken words passed between them.
Deegan could not stop the few tears that trickled down his cheeks.
He couldn’t hide it. Not this. The destruction and termination of
the man who meant everything to him.

Raynor nodded. He knew. He
always knew what Deegan was feeling and thinking. From that day
they met on a battlefield in
1361, the Norman’s last stand in Ireland. They
were on opposite sides, but soon forged a friendship out of the
ashes of the Norman defeat. Raynor stayed on in Ireland to live.
Memories both wretched and wonderful washed through Deegan. He
walked to the iron door and pulled the bar back. A blast of heat
filled the basement. The fire roared at full tilt. Raynor lifted
Laura into his arms once again with no effort. He did not hesitate;
he walked into the wall of flame with his head held high, ever the
regal knight. They were both engulfed immediately. Deegan banged
the door shut and slammed the bolt home.

Raynor met his end bravely, as Deegan
knew he would. No screaming or scratching at the door. Just
acceptance. Peace. Finality.