Chapter Five
Eve stood in the middle of the library staring in amazement at all the books shelved floor to ceiling. Her eyes couldn’t believe the beauty of the old mahogany shelving that filled every wall. She had never seen so many books outside of a bookstore or public library. She had seen magazines with pictures of large private collections in one place, but not like this.
“You look a little shocked.” Roderic’s voice swung her head around, as she glanced over her shoulder at Roderic, who was leaning against the door frame.
“Sorry, I was just thinking to myself that I have never seen so many books in one place, unless you count the library or a bookstore,” she admitted, “and you have quite the collection; from the classics, to westerns, nonfiction, and bios. There seems to be a bit of everything, and I noticed that your collection has some remarkable ancient works that any museum would kill for. Christ, how did you get scrolls?”
“When you’ve been around as long as we have, you learn to appreciate certain things.” Roderic pushed away from the door frame, and moved further into the room. “Books are one of my passions; from William Shakespeare to Mickey Spillane, I love them all, especially scrolls.”
“So I see,” Eve stated, running her fingers over the spines of the books. “Anything about healing?” she questioned.
“A great number, some very old. If you would like to borrow any, please feel free; except the scrolls, you’ll have to stay here to see those.”
“Thank you. I take it that there is nothing in any of those that have helped your friend Marcus?”
“Sadly, it would seem not. We have always relied on our healers, but there seems something different about this.”
“What do you mean?” Eve questioned him, her medical training kicking in.
“Well, we tend to be a very healthy bunch, for the most part. We do not get your typical human illness, colds, flus etc.”
“Aren’t you lucky?” Eve stated with a sour note of envy in her voice.
“Please don’t take that the wrong way. Our body chemistry must be different, and we are lucky enough to be immune to those things. We can be poisoned, or killed from other injuries, but most of the time we will heal. So, when this thing felled Marcus, we didn’t take it as seriously as I guess we should have at first. But you would need to know Marcus. He’s a very stubborn man, and for the longest time he wouldn’t even admit that it was anything other than a headache, but now he has been sick for almost three weeks. We have no idea what’s causing it, let alone know what to do to make him better.”
“You’re close?” Eve asked him.
“We’re all close. We have been together for centuries. It tends to do that.”
“And Marcus is the strong silent type.”
“I wouldn’t let him hear you describe him that way, but I would say that you hit the nail right on the head. Marcus is, was, our General at one time. He takes everything very seriously, and doesn’t have time for the frivolous side of life.”
“Sounds like a family member of mine, too. So what was he doing before he got sick? Was it anything different than the usual?” Eve probed for information.
“That’s part of the problem; Marcus has a tendency to do things without informing the rest of us. He still thinks he’s protecting us, you know, kinda like your sister, Brennan.”
“I thought you guys told each other everything?” Eve questioned.
“Why would you say that? We share many of the same traits as humans; we treasure our privacy the most. Marcus told Caleb and Kayne that he had discovered something, but he didn’t elaborate.”
“You were preoccupied with other matters, so you didn’t ask for clarification, and now your general can’t talk,” Eve probed.
“Yes, we were trying to get to the bottom of the rumours about the attack on Sanctuary. That took priority, and then the next thing we knew, he was getting sicker. I hadn’t given his discovery another thought until just now.”
“So whatever he was doing could be where he came into contact with whatever is making him sick.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t know where else to start.” Roderic didn’t appreciate how useless a lack of information made him feel.
“You said that he started feeling sick, what, about three weeks ago?”
“Yes, he complained about having a hell of a headache to Caleb.”
“Headaches, you make it seem like that’s unusual, why?”
“Because it is; we normally don’t get headaches,” Roderic explained.
“Oh, you’re lucky.”
“He tried aspirin for a bit, but after a while it didn’t work, next came the sore muscles and cold, and he constantly complained that he’s cold.”
“You make that seem strange; most people, when they are sick, have lots of complaints.”
“That’s because you don’t know Marcus. He never complains about anything. For him to talk to us about these maladies is not in his character. This is serious.”
“Okay, did he get cut or anything like that?”
“We don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“If we get cut we heal fairly quickly, so if he had been cut we wouldn’t know about it. Since he has been under my roof, he has been in and out of consciousness, so we haven’t been able to question him about anything. Rhiannon is very concerned that nothing she does seems to be helping. There are times when he appears to be getting better, and then suddenly he takes a turn for the worse again.”
“How long has she been treating him?”
“He’s been here for a week. We have eons of experience based on the knowledge of the healing arts, and to be unable to combat Marcus’ illness is very disturbing.”
“But you said that he started complaining about things almost three weeks ago.” Eve’s confusion showed on her face.
“Yes, to Caleb and Kayne, but you have to understand, as I already explained, Marcus is a general, and a general does not complain to his men when he is not feeling well. It wasn’t until Caleb told me that he had been trying to get a hold of him for a couple of days without any luck that we went to check on him, and found him in bed, sick.”
“So there was nobody around to watch over him?”
“Normally there is, but Fredrick and Margaret, his butler and housekeeper, are away for their daughter’s wedding, and Marcus insisted that he could do without assistance for the month.”
“So you don’t know what happened the first few days that he was really sick? Certainly makes thing harder, but not impossible. Okay, since you found him, other than what you have already told me, what have his symptoms been?”
“I wish I could tell you; ask Rhiannon, she’ll have it all recorded somewhere.”
“Okay, I will …” Someone yelling in the foyer stilled Eve’s tongue.