The Crystal Rainbow Ch. 31-32

His eyes widened as a sudden realization hit him.

"I am at peace with my life. I never thought I could feel this way, but I do. Especially after the way my life began. And it is thanks to Helen, Khalid, Christine and even Edgar. I never thought to find their love and friendship that dark and stormy night. I never even hoped to dream of it, but here I am and here it is. Since I now have Christine, the only thing I need to make life perfect is to have Helen back safe and sound. I wonder if Christine could use the letter portal to bring Helen back …."

He found his quiet musing interrupted by the feeling of eyes upon him and he looked up to find four pairs of eyes staring at him. He pushed off the doorframe and stepped into the room, wrapping his arm about Christine's waist. He pulled her close to him, reveling in her warmth and the pleasure her nearness caused him. He nuzzled his nose into the crook of her neck and breathed deep of her body's natural scent, which caused him to feel almost intoxicated. He looked up when he felt the room go silent.

"What?"

Christine shook her head and chuckled softly as Khalid snorted in disgust. Erik pulled Christine tighter to his body and almost groaned aloud when Christine ground her backside against his aroused manhood.

"Really, Erik," the distressed older man snapped. "Now is not the time for you to moon about like a lovesick schoolboy. We need to do something. Who knows what that creature intends to do to Helen? It might even decide to turn her!"

Erik and Christine's eyes turned as one to meet Khalid's, and he gasped. Their eyes held complementary flames of amber and umber. The older man took an involuntary step back as he placed his hand on his chest to cover his pounding heart. He panted for a moment and then took a hesitant step toward the couple. He looked intently into first Erik's amber and then Christine's umber. He gasped.

"Allah, protect us! What have the two of you done?"

His eyes darkened and his lips curled into a snarl. He turned away and threw his hands up into the air.

"Oh! This is perfect! It seems that our only hope is now demon-possessed as well. Ha!" He gave a short bark of laughter. "I guess there is no reason for me to stay here any longer. I can expect no assistance from either of you. And to think that I was fool enough to believe that I could trust you, Erik, well, I guess that just goes to show the more fool am I. Argh … well, mon ami, adieu et bonne chance!²"

The sarcastic tone of his words hung heavily in the air as he leaned forward and spat derisively on the floor just in front of Erik's feet. The furious man began to thunder toward the bedroom door, but halted when Erik, with Christine still in his embrace, blocked his path. Khalid spun on his heel and strode to the window. He thrust the sash up with a savage force until it would open no further. He placed his hands on the ledge and began to pull his body onto the windowsill. Christine gasped and Erik's eyes darkened, but before the rapidly deteriorating situation got any worse, a soft voice began to speak.

"Things seldom are as they seem. Monsieur, you should not judge by appearance that which you do not truly understand. Do not judge with your eyes, but with your heart. Do not think, but feel. Close your eyes. Tell me, Monsieur, what does your heart tell you? How do your friends make you feel?"

Khalid paused and turned his head back to the room. All eyes turned to the small woman with flaming red hair. Wrapped as she was in the comforter from Helen's bed, it lent her small frame the air of a lost child. Her wild curls seemed to float about her head, bouncing as if caressed by an unseen wind. Her hazel eyes were soft and her full lips turned up in a gentle smile. Cadmus released her from his embrace and she took a tentative step towards Khalid.

"Come, Monsieur. Do not lend aid to our enemy by leaving here. If you go alone to confront the beast, you will not save your lady. You may only place your own life in peril. Come; let me prove to you that your perceptions are incorrect. That the thing you fear is false. Surely, you do not wish to provide succor to the beast with your anger."

She lifted a small well-shaped hand and beckoned to Khalid. He sighed. Releasing his grip on the window, he dropped back to the floor. Sabratha's smile grew wider and she nodded slightly.

"Merci, Monsieur. The thing you see between your friends is a very special bond. Born of magic and the deepest love, it is a rare thing, but it is not evil. It is exactly what we need to triumph over the beast. For is not two greater than one? The beast is unaware that there is one to stand against him—now think how the surprise of two joined in power can lend aid to our cause."

She paused, tilting her head to the side as if listening and then returned her attention to Khalid with a wide grin.

"I do believe that a very close acquaintance of yours is on the way here and he brings help with him. So hold and be at peace, Monsieur. Hold your despair in abeyance, for while it may now seem dark, the dawn is not far off. And with the new day comes hope. Not all is lost, not yet, and Helen still lives. I can feel her." Her eyes took on a soft, dreamy look for a moment before snapping back into sharp focus. She chuckled softly and shook her head, obviously amused by whatever it was she saw or heard. "The beast does not intend to touch her. It left her with one it thought newly turned so she could become its first meal. The beast originally planned to use me for this purpose and I would have been helpless to foil its plans. Helen, however, is far from helpless. In fact, I do believe the beast is in for a bit of a surprise from our Helen, for it knows her but little."

Her head tilted further, her cheeks flushed and she giggled softly.

"And, when all is said and done, our Helen, she is a lady, is she not? We all know how decorous and modest our Helen is, non? One might even go so far as to say that to compare her shyness with that of a shrinking violet would be most appropriate. Would you not agree?"

Sabratha's wide eyes feigned an air of earnest innocence as she spoke, but a small smirk that tugged at the corner of her mouth told of her true feelings. She bit her bottom lip to tame her smile, but surrendered the farce when everyone, including a reluctant Khalid, began to snicker. The dark man shook his head and with the same air of restraint, responded to Sabratha's jest.

"Oh, yes! Our Helen is quite the lady, so demure and restrained. It is a wonder that we cannot hear her swearing from here."

The chuckles evolved swiftly into full-blown gales of laughter at Khalid's comment. Erik drew Christine close to his chest and breathed his words softly into her ear.

"That was a close thing, was it not? Sabratha has a gift. It appears that she knows just how to handle people in order to keep emotions calm. I do not wish to contemplate what could have happened if Khalid had gone off alone. That probably would have played right into Xavier's plans. Certainly, it is simpler to pick off people one at a time than an entire group. We are stronger together than apart."

He burrowed his nose into the crook of her neck, breathing deeply of his beloved's scent, and sighed.

"Oh, Christine, mon amour!"

Erik started slightly when Christine's response resounded within his mind.

"Ah, mon ange, our strength certainly does not lie in our numbers, but in each of our gifts. However, until each of us learns what they can do alone, you are most certainly correct … remaining together is the wisest course of action."

A trumpeting bray interrupted the lovers' conversation. A shrill neigh drew the room's occupants to look out the window into the moonlit yard where a triumphant Edgar pranced about with a shadowy figure sitting astride his back. Suddenly, Edgar reared up on his hind legs and screamed. The creature on his back threw his shaggy face to the sky and laughed.

Christine scowled, walked to the window, her hands akimbo and called out the window.

"Leshii Basajaun! Behave yourself! It is my hope that you are here to lend us aid in the task before us. However, if you intend to thwart us with your tricks, I must inform you that I shall not allow it. I have no need for you to be here at all and you know it! It is to the favor of both of us that we join forces. So, come, get down from Edgar's back and stop torturing him this instant! We have desperate need of palaver. Come, Lord of the Forest! Let us sit together, share a good meal and make plans to foil the instrument of the night."

~~~~~~~~~~~

¹ "Roi de mon coeur! Seigneur de mon amour!" – Translation: "King of my heart! Lord of my love!"

² "mon ami, adieu et bonne chance!" – Translation: "my friend, goodbye and good luck!"

~~~~~~~~~~~