Chapter 43: Topside

March 1999

The next thing I knew, I was in my room in the mansion. The sun was shining though the curtains, and I could smell breakfast. Shade, humming a tune from her past, was coming into the room with a serving tray, and Mortis was standing at attention as usual by my bed.

A familiar voice called to me. It was the sweetest voice I had ever come to know. My wounded shoulder hurt when I moved to lift my head, seeking the source of that voice. It drew me to it, irresistible, as it was familiar, soothing, and comforting. Was it another angel? I had not fully opened my eyes yet, but I could see a silhouette of a beautiful woman standing at the foot of my bed. Then two smaller silhouettes appeared next to her, one on each side. Then I knew. It was better than an angel was because it was Rachel, and my children, here and safe. We were together again, and in the light. I thought Tayla must have been smiling now, as I was thankful, she had kept her word. I was happy and content.

It was good to be topside again. I could feel my healing process accelerated by the fact that I was among sunshine, family and familiar surroundings. I was sure that there would be a million questions to answer though. I was not really prepared to answer these questions while I was laid up with such a serious injury. My chest tubes were still inside my ribcage. I was still having fevers even though I was getting antibiotics through intravenous tubing. Nevertheless, Rachel was here! She could take care of me. To my surprise, the angry questions did not come at first as I expected. Rachel started first.

“Malcolm, honey! What happened to you? They told us someone tried to kill you! I’ve heard many things, but I am not sure exactly what to believe. These people came to us last night, told us you were in mortal danger and then told us to pack our bags. I wanted proof, but they said that I would just have to trust them. So,” she sighed, “We got on a plane, and flew all night long just to get here. Who are these people?”

“You were told right,” I said in a husky, sedated voice. “Someone did try to kill me and someone else too, I might add. What have you been told so far?” They helped to set me up in a sitting position in my bed even though positioning me was painful.

“They told us to come quickly because you needed us immediately. They told us not to ask questions and no one would be hurt. Have we been kidnapped? Are you a hostage? Who’s holding us? And where for pity sake are we?” More questions, one right after the other, in a rapid-fire fashion.

Shade fixed my breakfast so that Rachel could start feeding me. The kids had not said a word and remained well behaved. I think they were scared, and shocked to see their Dad in such a way.

“I’m so glad that you and the twins are here, safe and sound. I missed you all so much. No, we aren’t hostages, only guests under a friend’s protection. There is much to tell, and it will take more than an afternoon to tell you. You’re going to have a real hard time believing this one, Rachel. Prepare yourself for the most awesome and incredible story you are ever going to hear.

I spent the better part of an entire morning telling my utterly fantastic tale to my beautiful wife. I started at the point of how the Dragon had attacked Lou and me at the Forest Temple in Colombia. Rachel was nervous and incensed when I told her of my relationship with Rosalva and the calamity that befell her. I told her of Rosalva’s story from childhood about how the cult of the Jackal had haunted her since she was a young girl. She gasped when I did not leave out the details of how they waited with infinite patience to place the eternal gag of silence upon her, biding their time, hoping to bag their entire quarry in one violent stroke of evil. The sad news of Rosalva’s demise was shocking enough, but when I told her of how I had to kill other human beings to stay alive and survive, she just about came unglued. The look on her face was one of shock. She had no idea of what I had gone through.

She moved closer to me, pulling a chair up to the bedside, she sat and held my hand, kissing it gently as to comfort me. “Malcolm, I don’t care what you’re going to tell me, I am not ever going to leave you and you’re never going to leave me again. Is that clear?” She was adamant about this issue.

“There’s more to all of this Rachel. A lot more. I have just begun to scratch the surface,” I said as I coughed, indicating my voice still was not strong.

Nevertheless, she could sense my need to tell my story. I needed to keep the interruptions to a minimum, as I knew there would be questions, and I would have to explain many things. The twins were aghast at what they had heard.

As Shade and Mortis looked on, I continued with the scene in the hotel, and meeting up with the redheaded woman who sat up much of the night, waiting with me to check out of the hotel and head for the airport. Telling her of the firefight in the hotel lobby, running for my life as well as the redhead running for hers was scaring not only her but also the children. I told her how they shot the redheaded lady in the back as we dashed into the elevator but somehow I managed to get to my room, waiting to shoot it out with more of the Jackal soldiers though they never made it into my room. They had died a strange death in the hall, outside my room. My story of being drugged or chloroformed inside my room, as mysterious as it was, did not seem to astonish Rachel. I think it was at this point her reality meter began to wane.

All the twins could say was “Wow!”

Then it got out of hand when I had to witness a demonstration of supernatural evil that until now, we only knew existed in the minds of nineteenth century Irishmen and Hollywood producers. Frustrated I was becoming because she was not going to buy into my experiences. I so desperately wanted Tayla to spare her the witness of the awful spectacle that I was not. How could I convince her that vampires were real phenomena, kept from the knowledge of man for so long? In this place, knowledge was power for sure ... knowledge and faith.

I told her the story of Tayla. Rachel listened to how she had convinced me of her supernatural abilities, and her nature as a vampire. Most importantly, I told of Tayla’s unique characteristic of remaining half-human. I realized this was too fantastic for anyone to hear, but especially for my wife to hear.

When she heard of this, she held her hands to her face and her eyes began to well up with tears. She looked over to Mortis, but he never made a sound or a gesture of affirmation of my story.

However, Shade, in her sweet but direct way, stated matter-of-factly, “He’s telling the truth Dearie!”

I continued to divulge my information about the Queen of the Order of the Clan of the Red Velvet. The tale about the method of her seduction at the tender age of fourteen into the world of darkness by her stepmother and her father was not easy for her. Rachel despises any cruelty towards children. My remarks about the church refusing them decent burials saddened her.

Rachel kept rubbing my hand and touching it to the side of her face. I felt the tears on the back of my hand as my story brought out many emotions from my wife’s tender heart. Rachel knew I would never lie to her. Why in the world would I lie to her about this? I told her how I met each of the familiars, and how each one of them served the queen.

My story continued with the nightly fireside chats in the library, and how Tayla started the fire with a mere look from one of the three faces she possessed in her repertoire of identities. In an attempt to give her hope and comfort, I made her recall on the last morning we had spent together how she had prayed to the Lord to place a hedge of protection around me in the form of Angels. She remembered, and then I told her of Erlandis, Quintas, Milo, and Ariel. I told her that they not only had manifested themselves in my dream, but also in my waking moments as well. Then, very recently, I had seen them at the edge of my bed sitting and conversing with me. I wondered if I should tell her of Tayla’s affections toward me, and of her constant tempting and teasing but I decided against it, as it would serve no purpose.

“But Malcolm, how in the world did this happen?” She was referring to the injury to my back and shoulder.