Heart of the Phoenix Read online

  “He does not frighten me.”

  Just then thunder ripped through the sky, lightning streaking over its darkness. Lorraine jumped slightly. “You might not want to say that too loudly.” Thaddeus almost chuckled.

  Then those heads moved, swiftly, surreally, stretching until one was nose to nose with Thaddeus and the other with Tayla. “I don’t care what happens to me now as long as she dies!”

  “Why?” Thaddeus didn’t move. “It won’t change anything.”

  A slithering tongue snaked out of the head aimed at Tayla. She gasped, then regained her composure. “Because I took away her son. Because he was the only person who had ever truly loved her. I came along and took some of that love. It is the worst tale of a mamma’s boy I’ve ever encountered,” Tayla said with distaste.

  “Shut up! Shut up!” Lorraine hissed. “You always did talk too much.”

  “But it’s true, isn’t it? What I’m saying is absolutely true. You were jealous from that very first day that Jerome brought me home. He was so sweet and endearing then. But after the wedding he changed.” Tayla eyed her suspiciously. “You changed him. You did something to make him mean to me all the time until you knew I wouldn’t be able to stand it anymore and I’d leave. You did that, didn’t you?” Suddenly Tayla saw the truth. It had all been Lorraine’s doing. Somehow she’d brainwashed her son into doing her bidding, and Tayla’s marriage became the victim.

  “What I don’t understand is, if you could do this—if you could have killed me so easily, why didn’t you just do it? Why wait all this time?”

  “We are not supposed to readily expose ourselves to mortals,” Thaddeus answered for her. “To reveal her true self and kill you the way she wants to, the way that was determined by her ancestors, would have ensured that she would lose Jerome, and her life.”

  “Jerome was all mine. He was meant for me!” Lorraine screamed.

  “But he’s dead now,” Thaddeus added. “Your cruelty killed him. He wasn’t like us and you knew that, yet you let him come to try and take her. You had to know he’d be killed.”

  Both heads shook simultaneously. “I did not know. I hired someone to watch over him when I found out, but he failed me too. I tried to make Jerome see reason, but she’d already put her hooks into him and he wouldn’t listen.”

  “Usef.” Tayla whispered his name as images of the man’s face being ripped off filled her mind.

  Thaddeus didn’t speak, even though he’d known there was something not quite right about that man. “It is over now, Cethia. You will go before Hades this time; he will decide your fate.”

  “I will do no such thing!” Lorraine screamed and reached out to grab Tayla.

  Tayla twisted against the woman’s grasp, to no avail. “Killing me won’t bring your son back.”

  “No, but I’ll feel better knowing the world is rid of a creature like you! And if I must go to Hades, you will go along with me!”

  Tayla balled her fists and slammed one into Lorraine’s stomach. There was a loud screech as Tayla pulled away. One of Lorraine’s tongues extended, striking Tayla’s upper arm. Her flesh burned, then began to drip from her bones. As Tayla staggered, Lorraine made a move to go to her. Thaddeus lifted his athame, putting a line of fire between the two women.

  “You!” Lorraine screamed at him.

  “Cethia! You will not harm her!”

  “I will kill you both!” And that tongue lashed out again, this time toward Thaddeus. He lunged to the other side, just narrowly avoiding it. Lorraine’s body seemed to transform then, even as she howled and screeched. Her legs and body turned into that of a python, but her two heads remained, growing even uglier.

  Thaddeus tried to shield his eyes, and she threw her body at him again.

  Tayla could see through the flames this time, saw Thaddeus as clearly as if he were right next to her, saw the tongue lurch and stretch across his stomach, wrap around him like a belt. Thaddeus roared; Tayla screamed.

  “Run, Tayla! Run!” he instructed, but she did not move.

  She still held the candle in one hand, even though it had now burned quite low. She wondered why she hadn’t thought to use it before. Turning quickly, she riffled through the drawer and found another, lit it and moved closer to Lorraine, who looked to be squeezing the life out of Thaddeus. She set the flame to the woman’s long, thrashing tail, then moved back out of the way.

  Lorraine/Cethia screamed out in pain, giving enough slack to her hold on Thaddeus that he could lift his arm, slash his athame across both her necks.

  One head screamed and rolled in one direction while the other did the same in the opposite direction. The room filled with a hideous stench, and Tayla covered her mouth and nose against it.

  Then Thaddeus looked at her, their gazes locking even as his transformation began again. Tayla again did not move. She couldn’t; this was all too much. She wasn’t sure if she should be running, or where she should run for that matter. For the second time in only two days she felt faint. Her knees became wobbly as, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the lifeless head of her mother-in-law. She swayed and would have hit the floor with a loud thump had she not been swooped up and taken away. She heard the glass shatter, felt her weightlessness, then gave way to the darkness, succumbing finally to the fear.

  * * *

  “I can’t believe you had her all the way out in that forest, wearing her down like this. She’s been unconscious for going on three hours now.” Ms. Dudley walked back and forth in front of Tayla’s bed. “Maybe we should call a doctor.”

  “She is not ill. She’s regaining her strength. She will be fine,” Thaddeus said in a solemn voice for about the hundredth time since he had returned to Grayson Moore with Tayla. He’d tended the wound on her arm, taping it securely. She most likely would not develop any infection, especially since he’d applied his father’s healing water.

  “You are not a doctor, Mr. Delos. How can you know what is going on inside of her?”

  Thaddeus’ head snapped around until he faced the older woman. “I know every emotion she’s feeling because I feel it too. She will be fine, I know it!” She would be, of that he was sure. For even as Tayla was rejuvenated he felt himself weakening.

  Ms. Dudley huffed. “I’m not arguing with you, so just pipe down. But while you’re standing around you could be cleaning up this place. It is a horrible mess. Why she would up and go gallivanting into the woods with her house looking like this is beyond me.” Then she looked Thaddeus up and down. “Well, it’s not beyond me. Despite my many years, I can see what inspired her.”

  Thaddeus blushed under her intense perusal.

  “Still, a mess is a mess,” Ms. Dudley continued as she moved into the kitchen.

  Thaddeus looked down at Tayla, at the blankets that lay smoothly around her. He’d brought her home, bathed her and placed her in the bed. He’d only had a few moments to ponder her condition when Ms. Dudley had stormed in.

  While Tayla slept, she dreamt. She dreamt of the future they would never have, a beautiful dream that Thaddeus wished with all his being could come true. She was in a deep, healing slumber; he’d seen it before. Mortals often overreacted, calling it a coma or some other such silliness. But sometimes the body simply needed to shut down, to obtain the amount of rest it needed to rebuild a life. And Tayla was doing just that.

  When she awoke her life would start anew. Her husband was dead and his mother, who no one had suspected was otherworldly, had been defeated as well. The only thing left for Thaddeus to do was to be here when Tayla awakened.

  Only to leave her once and for all, he sighed deeply.

  A part of him knew he should leave now, knew that the smartest thing would be to walk away before she awoke with her questions and her fanciful ideas for their future. But he could not bring himself to do it. He needed to hear her voice one more time, see her smile, feel her lips against his. It was selfish, he knew, but after all these hundreds of years of his life, he felt he’d earned it.<
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  * * *

  Later that evening Thaddeus heard a small knock at the door. He’d been enjoying the fireplace, giving his own tired body some rest. About an hour before, he’d managed to push Ms. Dudley out the door and send her on her way. He prayed it wasn’t her again.

  Wrenching the door open he found himself lowering his head to welcome the newest visitors.

  “Ms. Dudley said Ms. Hampton was sick. We came to take care of her.” Monty looked seriously at Thaddeus.

  Beside him Alisa nodded her ponytailed head. “Yup, and we’re gonna take care of her like she does us. We got some soup.” Alisa held up cans of soup for Thaddeus to see.

  He was touched. He’d forgotten how much he’d grown to like these two little kids until seeing them again. “You came here all alone? In the dark?”

  “I protected her.” Monty put an arm around Alisa and puffed up his little chest.

  Alisa pulled away. “He did not. I protected myself.”

  Thaddeus grinned. Alisa would grow up to be a spirited, independent woman, with a beautiful smile and a happy disposition. Monty would be a good man, protecting and taking care of his own. And Thaddeus would miss them terribly. “Come on in, it’s growing chilly.” He stepped aside as the two makeshift nursemaids trudged inside the cabin.

  “You made her a fire? Good thinking.” Monty looked from the fireplace to Thaddeus and nodded his head.

  “Thanks.”

  “I’ll make her some tea. Ms. Hampton likes tea.” Alisa ignored the fire and made her way to the kitchen instead.

  “Actually, she’s sleeping, so we probably shouldn’t fix her anything right now.” Thaddeus took a seat on the couch, patting the cushion beside him for both of the children to have a seat.

  “If she’s sleeping what were you doing? Were you sleeping too?” Monty asked suspiciously.

  It was amazing how adults always underestimated the mind of a child. “No, Monty. I was not.”

  “You are so silly. He was watching over her. That’s what guardian angels do. Ain’t that right, Mr. D?” Alisa climbed up on the sofa, making herself quite at home next to him.

  Before Thaddeus could answer, Monty, who was sitting on the floor in front of the fire, spoke up. “He is not. He’s the teacher. There’s no such thing as guardian angels.”

  “Uh huh,” Alisa crooned. “When I saw Ms. Hampton in the restroom after we came from the hike she was wiping her face and said she needed to calm herself down. And when I asked why she said because she’d just come face to face with her own guardian angel.”

  Thaddeus’ heart warmed. She’d accepted him and what he was long before he’d even explained it to her fully. He hadn’t believed she was capable of understanding, capable of trusting him and the truth, but she’d proved him wrong. Not only had she accepted it, she’d fallen in love with him in the process.

  “That’s not true, is it, Mr. D?” Monty, being a boy, wasn’t prone to believe in the fantasies of young girls, or even women for that matter.

  Thaddeus struggled to find a way to tell them the truth but not frighten them completely. He was just about to open his mouth, to give an explanation he hoped they’d accept, when a voice from the hallway stopped them all.

  “Yes, Mr. D has been like my guardian angel,” Tayla whispered, moving slowly until she stood in front of Thaddeus, who jumped to his feet to wrap his arms around her shoulders.

  “You should have called me. You should not be walking around so soon by yourself.” He eased her down onto the couch as Alisa scooted over closer, brushing her little hand over Tayla’s hair.

  “You have pretty hair, Ms. Hampton.”

  Tayla leaned over, kissed one chubby little cheek. “Thank you, Alisa.”

  “Are you okay, Ms. Hampton? You don’t look sick to me.” Monty had made his way to the other side of Tayla and he kneeled on the couch. “Mr. D kept you safe, didn’t he?”

  “I told you he was a guardian angel,” Alisa yelled.

  “He is not!” Monty retorted.

  “Is too!” Alisa leaned over Tayla’s lap to get closer to Monty, as if that was going to get her point across.

  “Is not!” Monty mimicked Alisa’s actions and yelled even louder.

  “Enough.” Thaddeus’ voice rose above that of both of the children, though his gaze remained soft and even. “Ms. Hampton does not need you two arguing over her right now.”

  Tayla giggled. “On the contrary, Mr. D, this is exactly what I needed.” The exuberance of youth was the perfect example of what Tayla had been lying in her bed thinking about for the last half hour that she’d been awake. “Mr. D did protect me, and I’d like to believe that he was my own personal guardian angel.” She looked up at Thaddeus, who had come down on his knees in front of her and was holding her hands. “He’s been watching over me since he came to Grayson Moore, and I cannot thank him enough.”

  There were no words exchanged between them but their eyes spoke volumes, asking questions and confirming answers while the two youngsters stuck out their tongues at each other in disgust.

  “Is there anything I can get you?” Thaddeus asked her.

  Tayla tilted her head to one side, almost told him exactly what was running through her mind, then remembered they were not alone. “I’m really hungry.”

  “I brought soup!” Alisa yipped.

  “Oh really? What kind?” Tayla asked, shifting her attention to the small girl.

  Monty made an ugly face. “That nasty vegetable bacon.”

  Tayla smoothed a hand over her stomach. “Mmmm, I love vegetable bacon.”

  “Good! I’ll go fix it.” Alisa slid off the couch but when Tayla made a move to get up and help her, one look from Thaddeus warned her not to.

  “I’ll help Alisa. You get some rest,” he stated as he stood.

  “Yuck! You’re cooking, Mr. D? That’s for girls.”

  Thaddeus looked at Monty and was about to speak when Tayla held up a hand. “You go on and help Alisa. Monty and I will sit here and talk.” She put an arm around Monty and pulled him closer to her chest.

  When they were alone she kissed his forehead. “Now what’s this nonsense you’re talking? And why are you agitating Alisa so much?”

  Monty didn’t squirm out of her reach this time and Tayla grinned. For as tough as Monty liked to appear, he loved all the attention she gave him, whether it was kisses and hugs or scoldings and punishments.

  “She’s a silly girl.”

  “I used to be a silly girl once,” Tayla said almost dreamily.

  “But you’re all grown up. And you’re smart. And you’re pretty.”

  “You think I’m pretty, Monty?” Tayla blushed, but not more than the little boy did at her words.

  “Nah, Mr. D does though. I can tell by how he keeps looking at you like there ain’t nobody else in the room.”

  Tayla was warmed by the thought and corrected Monty’s English absently. “There isn’t anyone else in the room.” Monty grumbled something but Tayla was still thinking of Thaddeus. She had no idea how long she’d slept but she’d awakened feeling energized and ready to take on the world. She’d heard the voices and couldn’t wait to get up and see who was visiting her. Her heart had melted when she’d seen Thaddeus and the two kids. That familiar feeling of wanting had settled inside her and she wondered again what would become of her and Thaddeus.

  “I want you to be nicer to Alisa. She’s not so bad.” Tayla tried to remain focused on the kids. Monty was very perceptive.

  “She’s alright…for a girl, I guess. She wasn’t scared to walk through the forest in the dark to come to your house. James, in my dorm, he was scared. He said there were monsters in the dark.”

  That sparked Tayla’s memory and she sighed. She’d once been bold like Alisa, not afraid of anything. Until one day she’d come face to face with a monster. And now she was even bolder, knowing that she could conquer anything that came her way. She smiled down at Monty, wondering if her son would be this way.
/>   Her son, she thought wistfully. Would she ever have a son?

  Thaddeus and Alisa emerged then from the kitchen. All four of them shared in a meal of soup and crackers and hot tea for Tayla, milk for the kids and water for Thaddeus. It was like a family dinner.

  Tayla ate slowly, trying to hold on to the feeling.

  Thaddeus kept his eyes from her, knowing what she was thinking, not because he was looking into her mind, but because those same thoughts and feelings were threatening to overtake him.

  * * *

  Ms. Dudley came to take the children back to their dorms, leaving Tayla and Thaddeus to sit in front of the fire. After a short time Tayla stood and yawned.

  “You haven’t had enough sleep?” Thaddeus smiled as he moved to stoke the fire.

  “Ha ha, very funny.” Tayla stood. She went to the window, looked out into the darkness and tried not to let the events of the past two weeks get her down. Her past had come back to haunt her and she’d survived it. She knew that was only possible because of the man across the room from her…the man she was hopelessly in love with.

  His touch was welcomed, cherished as he came up behind her, resting his chin on the top of her head, wrapping his arms securely around her.

  She leaned back into his embrace, wondering what the future held for them.

  “You must be exhausted,” she said suddenly and turned in his arms.

  “I am fine. I only wish to make sure that you are okay.” He took her hand in his and led her toward the bedroom.

  Thaddeus sat down on the bed before her and Tayla looked at him closely again. He wasn’t fine. His broad shoulders were drooping, his eyes, usually alert and smoldering, were dim and racked with fatigue. He looked sick and miserable. “Would you like a hot bath?” she asked.

  Thaddeus shook his head negatively. “No.” He reached for her hand, pulled her down beside him. “I just want to keep you near. Just for tonight.” He rubbed a hand up and down her arm but didn’t look at her.

  Tayla felt a stream of panic but chose to ignore it. She wouldn’t accept him leaving or…dying. She just couldn’t deal with that possibility. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened,” she said softly.