Her Billionaire, Her Wolf(29)
“Or, is it all too far-fetched, these stories of creatures capable of such horrors..?”
Sara, her thoughts filled with the faceless visage of the Journeyman, the nightmare that still haunted her, said, “Not really, no. I think there is probably something to it. I think there is more to the world than what most people are willing to believe...amazing things...terrible things.”
Her voice trailed off.
“What did you just say?” Braze’s tone was sharp as he stood then and Sara looked quickly up at him. Even in the soft glow coming from the candlelight behind them, his eyes burned fiercely as he studied her.
“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s just that maybe people close their eyes to what they don’t understand. They’d rather write it off and file it away among other unexplained mysteries. They’d rather forget all about it.
“Because the alternative scares them.”
His focus upon her was frightening her.
“Go on,” he said, his voice low, his eyes unblinking.
“Well, if things like that werewolf, your beast of Gévaudan, were real, men couldn’t pretend anymore that they alone rule the world. They’d be forced to admit that our control is all just an illusion.”
She fell quiet, unwilling to say more, yet desperate to tell him everything. That she knew with certainty that monsters walk the earth. That they are real.
And that they are capable of forcing people into impossible situations where, with one word, all would fall to ruin as her betrayal destroyed what little trust Braze had placed in her so far.
He nodded slowly, then said, “I don’t know how you keep doing that, Sara, but I must admit that I find it perfectly delightful.”
She looked at him, searching for what he really meant, but the enigma that was Brazier Abraxis remained.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand,” she replied.
Each time I think I have this man figured out, I discover that I know even less than I thought.
Then his lips turned up in a smile that broke like a dawning sun.
“I mean that you keep surprising me, Sara. And no one ever does...except you.”
He held his hand out to her and she took it, standing as he pulled her up and to him.
“Which is why I have prepared something for you...for us. You will have to trust me, and I, you. But, I believe you have the courage this will require, Sara.
“I am almost sure of it.”
And, without bothering to take the oil lamp with them, or even a candle from the dinner table, Brazier Abraxis led her from the room and into darkness.
~~~
Sara heard and smelled more than saw the path they took through the old château. Floorboards that grated underfoot gave way to cold stone. There were several flights of stairs and while Braze never let go Sara's hand, she felt the air become cooler and dank.
The sounds of being enclosed by spaces meant for the living turned to hollow echoes and vague sounds of dripping water.
Once, she thought she might have heard the squealing of mice in the distance and not much further along, she set her foot down in a small puddle before being briskly swept along in Braze's wake.
More stairs, ever downward, although for the last ones he had placed himself at her side as they descended, an arm firmly around her. Sara could tell that the steps were much more worn than those within the château and, in places, broken.
After the near ruined stairs, they walked upon a surface that was barely level. Dips and bumps made Sara stumble several times, but Braze was always there to steady her in a darkness that had taken a turn into pitch black.
They came to a stop and Sara smelled rust in the air. Braze left her and she heard the sounds of chains clinking before the squeal of hinges broke the silence. He led her past the sounds of the chains still slightly squeaking and Sara could imagine their links swinging slowly back and forth long after they had gone.
A short corridor followed before they stopped again. She heard another metallic sound, although instead of chains it sounded like metal on metal, then a series of clicks with a whining screech.
That was a key turning inside a very old lock, she thought to herself, wondering if she had made a very bad decision getting into the car with Flair and embarking on a plane, its destination unknown.
Again, there was the sound of hinges protesting in the darkness accompanied by the feeling of something massive swinging close by her.
"Don't move," Braze said, then she felt him disappear.
Sara heard a hissing click, once, twice, then a flame appeared across from her, burning in Braze's hand. He held a cigarette lighter to a long taper that had been lying on a table before him. Then, with the taper he went about lighting an elaborate candelabra, studded with at least twenty candles.