Autumn (48 page)

             
Zander smiled at Eli. “This is too easy,” he said, all charm in tone and alert speculation in the eyes.

             
Eli nodded. “Arabel is safe, the thief is with her.” He looked up as all of the other Gypsies they had ridden with entered the third cabin, all having secured their respective cabins.

             
“Triflin’ fun,” Baltis broke in easily, “but the real fight has yet to show up.”

             
Eli felt the grey energy, the same way he’d felt it when Alice-May Marpole had been killed; the heady, intense joy of destruction, the warped and satisfied lull after torture and murder. The grey energy filled the cabin, moving suddenly, rushing in to combat the energy void.

             
Eli and the others scattered from the room, each quickly uttering defensive spells. Zander was adding layers to the energy void as he burst out into the open from the confines of the cabin. The grey energy rushed at the fleeing Gypsies; it swarmed to them but could not penetrate the energetic fount the group had already created to protect themselves. The Gypsy magic held and the grey energy battered it as long as it could before dispersing angrily, leaving bitter, black energy pockets everywhere.

             
The leftover energy spun in a circle, like a dreaded Dorojenja wheel of death.

             
“Xavier says to bring them along,” Zander said, gesturing to the captured Dorojenja, as the group huddled for a quick briefing.

             
“To camp? Or to the Chief?” Eli asked.

             
“Through camp, and then to the Chief,” Zander replied with a shrug. He smiled. “You can be sure we did not capture any members of great importance here. But we have definitely taken a stand.”

             
Eli said nothing. He could not wait to see Arabel.

             
“Let’s be on the move, then,” Eli said eagerly, turning toward his horse without waiting for an answer.

             
Zander smirked behind Eli’s back, knowing full well what was on his companions mind, but he followed without retort. The prisoners were corralled and mounts gathere
d for them and the group was
poised to leave as Zander stopped briefly in front of the first cabin. He raised his athame and began a Fire Purification Spell.

             
“In fire, you surrender, alight!”  he commanded.

             
Zander then added some further words that Eli and the others could not hear and the first cabin burst into flames. The tongue of fire rapidly spread to the second cabin and from there to the third and within moments, all five were alight within the red and orange ignition of flaming heat. The fire contained itself solely to the cabins and Zander’s spell would last until all of the Dorojenja property had been destroyed.

             
The smell of the fire moved throughout the woods and Eli urged Jovah to make haste as he headed toward Arabel.

             
“I’m on my way,” he telepathically sent to her. Eli waited for a response. He felt her smile.

             
“Hurry,” she said.

             
Arabel herself opened the door for Eli when he reached the back gate. She threw herself into his arms with unabashed intensity and he matched her passion, kiss for kiss. They clutched at each other with feverishly urgent embraces and forgot entirely that it was not yet night and that Arabel’s back porch was not really so very secretive.

             
A sombrely dressed neighbour was coming up the lane and it was the alarmed sound of her shocked dismay that had Arabel and Eli taking note of their current position of unbridled entanglement. With a shaky laugh, Arabel pulled back from Eli’s body and ducked her head toward the door, to cover her unrepentant grin.

             
“We ought to tell her to look away,” Arabel said lightly. “Or perhaps we should go inside?”

             
Arabel turned and led Eli up the short flight of stairs and into the cloakroom. Inside the small space, Arabel wound her arms around Eli’s waist once again and he tilted her chin up to kiss her eyelids and her nose and cheeks and then finally her lips. Arabel lost herself in the sensation; she was dizzy from the feel of him and eager to explore the desire their combined heat created.

             
Arabel wound her fingers through Eli’s and with her other hand she tenderly raked his curling brown hair out of his expressive almond eyes. Those very eyes shone back at Arabel with a triumphant delight, their depths reflecting an endless pool of both passion and promise. Arabel was lost within Eli’s gaze, completely and utterly fascinated and intoxicated by him and the mirror of herself she viewed when she was with him.

             
Arabel was about to ask Eli a question when the unmistakeable rumble of his stomach sounded. He gazed at Arabel apologetically.

             
“Sorry,” Eli said tritely and Arabel was nothing short of appalled.

             
“Sorry?” she repeated incredulously. “You dare utter the word ‘sorry’ to me that your stomach growls because you have been starving as you heroically save me from the evil, dark forces of the Dorojenja?”

             
Arabel rolled her eyes in mock consternation and Eli favoured her with his engaging smile.

             
“I’ll tell you when you need to be sorry,” Arabel informed Eli with a practiced hauteur. “And that,” she pulled his generous lips toward hers, “is not now.”

             
Arabel brought her lips down upon Eli’s and they told each other how much they adored one another and of how anxious they’d been at the safety of the other through their lips, their hands, their tender whispers. Somehow they made it to the front parlour and the settee and lay together, watching the fire burn heartily in the grate, filling up on the joy of their safe reunion and the closeness of their yearning bodies.

             
Eli laid a row of kisses down Arabel’s neck, stopping at the neckline of her pretty cream and white gown. Arabel had dressed in her most delicate of dresses this evening, perhaps an unconscious rebuttal, or as a sharp contrast, to her moments of terror in the mud tunnel, she’d wanted to don the most impractical of outfits. Wearing the soft, silky dress now, Arabel felt quite glorious. So feminine and soft and beautifully masterful. Arabel sighed in utter contentment.

             
Morna appeared in the doorway, a tray of steaming bowls and liquids in her capable hands. She gestured to the front table.

             
“I’ll just set things up here for you, miss. And you let me know, mind you, if you needs more of anything
. I’ll just be right out here-”
, Morna
pointed to the hallway, “should you be needin’ anythin’”.

             
“Thank you, Morna, but there’s no need to wait in the hall, I’m sure the kitchen will do quite admirably,” Arabel responded with a laugh, knowing full well the maid was trying to save her from scandal and eavesdrop simultaneously.

             
Morna cast her eyes downward, but not before Arabel detected a hearty twinkle in them.

             
“As you say, miss,” Morna finally said, bobbing a quick curtsy and departing to the kitchen.

             
Arabel and Eli burst out laughing. The tray Morna had deposited upon the table smelt delicious and they wasted no time in discovering the treats that lay upon it. A large pot of fresh strawberry tea steamed merrily and Arabel poured out two cups immediately. Large thick sandwiches of chickpeas and cucumber and small brownie squares were quickly devoured. Arabel gestured toward the fruit and nut loaf.

             
“Take that with you,” she said.

             
El
i offered up one of his slow as
honey, sweetly dominant smiles.

             
“And if I mean to stay?” he questioned softly, gazing deeply into Arabel’s widening blue eyes.

             
Arabel felt her heart flip over in her chest. Did he mean it? she wondered excitedly. Would he stay with her tonight? Arabel’s heart raced. Would she let him?

             
Eli leaned in and his persuasive lips found Arabel’s skittish pulse. He kissed her hand, softly, caressing her fingers lightly; his casual tone belying the intensity of his desire.

             
“I love you,” he said simply.

             
Arabel stared at Eli, her heart leaping and her mind going completely blank. For all of the times she’d asked Eli to stay with her and he’d refused, she found herself now taken aback and hesitant when his position changed to reflect her wishes.

             
“I almost lost you,” Eli continued, his tone soft and easy but resolute with conviction, “and I realize now  there’s no time for hesitation when everything I need and want and desire is right in front of me. I want to be with you. We are two halves of one glorious whole and I couldn’t love you more, Arabel Spade. I need you and I love you and I can no longer sleep for the madness of wanting you.”  Eli dotted each statement with a kiss to Arabel’s dainty white wrist.

             
Eli closed his eyes briefly, waiting for her decision, and Arabel saw the strength of his love for her pouring out through him in great, golden waves of shimmering light.

             
Arabel leaned in toward Eli and kissed his shuttered eyelids.

             
There was no actual choice to be made, Arabel thought now, and the realization made her giddy and excited and delighted, all at the same time. The decision had been made lifetimes ago, she realized; they were just re-negotiating the terms.

             
“Stay with me,” she said.

             
Arabel smiled as Eli opened his eyes and gazed deeply at her. The fire crackled and spat out a slight shower of sparks, mirroring the heated exchange in the room. The expectant tension was sublime and Arabel drank fully of the energy. Inside of her head, Arabel heard the primal beat of the Gypsy drums and in her veins she felt the seductive and age-old call of female to male.

             
Arabel offered her hand to Eli. He took it and their fingers laced easily together. Arabel saw the colours; they danced and spun all around her and she was alert to the glowing excitement they proffered. Arabel saw that Morna was not in the kitchen after all but had stationed herself in the hallway by the stairs. As they passed her on their way up to Arabel’s bedroom, Arabel summoned her most grown-up, mistress of the house demeanour.

             
“I am retiring for the evening, Morna and I will see you in the morning.” Arabel spoke decisively, struggling to keep both nerves and laughter out of her voice.

             
Morna’s face was a mask of shocked pleasure and impudence and she answered Arabel in the same manner.

             
“I shall wish you both a good night, then, missy,” Morna replied, hiding her upturned mouth, and heartily emphasizing the word ‘both’.

             
Arabel and Eli brushed past Morna without further comment and continued up the long stairwell. When they reached Arabel’s bedroom they entered and shut the door firmly behind them.

             
A cheerful fire lit the room and chased away the autumn chill. The windows were carefully shuttered and Arabel pulled the curtains across as well. She lit a long tapered candle by her bedside and then turned to Eli, feeling suddenly gauche and nervous. She did not know what to expect.

             
Eli was sitting on Arabel’s bed. Lounging, more aptly. He reclined in a half position, watching her with his engaging eyes. He lifted an eyebrow at her.

             
“You set the course,” he assured her, sensing her vulnerability, and sharply feeling his own.

             
Arabel moved toward him and sat on the bed gingerly. Her slight weight did not disturb the bed whatsoever. She tucked her feet under herself and stared into Eli’s loving eyes.

             
“It’s always been you,” she said slowly. “Right from the start, it was you.”

             
Eli didn’t reply. He waited for Arabel to continue, knowing instinctively she had more to say.

             
“I felt you before I met you, as an energy; I know I did. And I used to wonder why I felt that energy – you – and I wondered if I would ever know what it was.”

             
Arabel smiled as her eyes pooled in sudden emotion. “I have waited lifetimes for you.”

             
Eli pulled Arabel to him and covered her body with his as his lips sought to reassure her and his arms sought to warm her. The moment heated instantly, intensified, and Arabel felt herself drifting away on a wave of pleasure, but then suddenly, a loud banging downstairs interrupted their embrace. Loud voices followed but Arabel could not discern what words were being spoken.