Blood Memories

"All right! All right, Mother. But this is your doing. Your wish. If he hates me afterward, I'll kill you myself."

What was he going to do?

Fear closed Eleisha's throat. Julian swept into Lord William's room, eyes gone red. "Get out," he snarled at her.

"What are you going to do? I could hear you shouting from here."

Without answering, he grabbed her arm and threw her out the door. His hand felt cold. She hit the hallway wall and fell, scraping her elbow. Lady Katherine climbed up the last step on all fours, wispy hair hanging loose, an insane, triumphant look on her face.

"What is he doing?" Eleisha asked. "You've got to stop him."

"It'll be fine now, dear," Katherine whispered. "Just fine. Go to your room and stay there."

For reasons beyond logic, beyond fear, Eleisha got up quietly and did as she was told.

The next day, Lady Katherine did not emerge from her private quarters, and Lord William had vanished.

"Where could they have taken him?" Eleisha asked a sniffing Marion.

"I don't know. It's a loony house, it is. What with them shouting through supper 'bout God knows what."

"Lady Katherine's mad."

"'Course she's mad! They're all mad. You just noticing that now?"

The day passed silently. Several cooks and servants slipped away without collecting wages. No one blamed them. Julian's habit of emerging in the evenings made Eleisha wonder if she shouldn't follow suit and disappear before dusk.

But what about William? She couldn't leave him. And what if she interfered? Julian would kill her. That much seemed certain. If it had been anyone but Julian, her courage might have won.

Knowing she could not pack up and run, she simply went to her room before sundown and locked the door. Perhaps events would work themselves out. She would just wait. Despite Marion's outburst, Eleisha knew Julian hadn't lost his mind. To the contrary, if anyone had control of this terrible situation, he did.

The screaming began shortly after dark. Eerie, keening wails from Lady Katherine swirled up through the floorboards. She wailed on and on until nearly ten o'clock. Eleisha pulled a comforter off the bed and crouched down inside the closet. Around midnight, she had just drifted off when a loud, smashing sound jerked her awake.

"Where are you?" Julian shouted.

He was in her room. Sounds of the bed being jerked amidst gasping snarls terrified her into silence. Maybe he wouldn't think of the closet. Maybe he'd just go away.

The fragile whitewashed door flew back as its hinges were ripped out. Julian's hand closed over her wrist, his eyes bloodshot, his breath stinking of something stale and sweet.

"Please, please don't…" Fear drove every other thought away. In all her life, Eleisha had never begged for anything-not food, not money, not mercy, not pity. But she begged now, like a frightened, kicked dog. Her fingers clawed at his. "Please, let go."

"Quiet."

He yanked her up and toward the door. By the time they reached the hall, she was sobbing. A familiar face peered out from the opposite room.

"Marion, help me!"

No one answered. Marion couldn't stop Julian. Nothing could.

He dragged Eleisha straight to the end of the hallway and slapped the end wall with his free hand. To her amazement, it opened up to a black stairwell. Turning, he picked her up with one arm and descended the stairs rapidly. She stopped fighting and clung to his neck, too numb to think.

Soft light emanated ahead. Julian ducked his head below a beam and entered a glowing open space with stone walls decorated by four torches. Lady Katherine sat in a heap on the floor.

Dead center of the far wall stood a door. Dead center of the door was a two-foot barred window. Julian carried her over to it.

"Look inside," he whispered.

Barely discernible muttering drew her attention before she made out the room's occupant. William paced back and forth in a ceaseless flow of motion, talking to himself.

"Lord William."

The sound of her voice caused him to whip his head around. She grasped the bars in helpless frustration, but then pulled back when he rushed up to her. His prominent wrinkles had deepened to dried creases, his flesh looked chalk-white, and dried blood covered his hair and cheeks.

"What have you done to him?"

"This place used to be a prison," Julian said. "Not a legal prison, but a place where my grandfather locked away troublesome servants and relatives. I used to play here as a child, pretending the cells were full of people. Father always hated it here."

"What did you do to him?"

"Made him immortal."

"No, you failed!" Lady Katherine cried from the floor.

Julian's body shook slightly, and for a moment Eleisha thought he might begin screaming himself. But his voice went on in low, controlled tones. "He is an abomination now, not what was intended. I worried about his reaction, his morality, trapping his once-sharp mind in an aged body, but never this. His illness is forever now. I've damned him to eternal senility."